Sugar may be losing every chance to have competition regarding being the most terrible ingredient in the diet of modern men and women. It has an utterly harmful effect on the human metabolism and can contribute to the development of all sorts of diseases. People have struggled to reduce the intake of sugar for decades and decades, but it is hard to say no to cookies and cakes. However, there is a solution to the problem and it’s called: healthy sweeteners. They are even sweeter than sugar, yet healthy for you. In this article, we have chosen the two most popular healthy sweeteners on the market: stevia and xylitol. Now let’s see which one should you choose to sprinkle over your cereal.

Stevia

The stevia extract comes from a leafy green plant, which is native to South America and belongs to the sunflower family. The components of stevia’s leaves that give the sweet taste are called steviol glycosides. There are a lot of various types of glycosides, however, there are only 11 of them thаt make nearly 90% of one leaf. Compared to normal sugar, stevia is around 300 times sweeter, so when you bake your cookies and cakes, you will need to adjust the dosage. The main benefit of the stevia sweetener is the fact that it doesn’t get involved in any metabolic process but it is excreted instead. Some people say that stevia has a bitter after-taste, however, this is not true for everyone and some even like the bitterness.

Xylitol

Although it sounds like something that has been invented in a laboratory, xylitol, a naturally occurring substance found in many types of fruits and vegetables. Another natural source of xylitol is birch wood, which is also used as an alternative medicine for healing wounds. Xylitol is a better choice for people who want to fight cavities. It is the perfect option because you get sweet taste without feeding the bacteria in your mouth, so they are actually destroyed from hunger, whereas it is well-known fact that sugar is their main food. The main purpose of xylitol as a sugar substitute is for people with diabetes to be able to eat sweet delights without endangering their health. Excessive usage of xylitol may cause gut imbalance, but if you are mindful of your daily intake, this won’t occur so often. Xylitol is also used to prevent ear infection especially in young children.

So, which one is better? There’s no right or wrong choice here, it’s all a matter of the what it is used for. While stevia is, in a sense, a universal sugar substitute and can be consumed by everyone (regardless of whether a person has some medical condition), xylitol is preferred by those who are undergoing some medical condition such as diabetes, oral cavities and ear infection.

References:
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/xylitol-not-as-sweet-as-its-cracked-up-to-be/

https://www.naturallysweet.com.au/