The advantages of erythritol compared with the common natural sweeteners in the market and current uses in the food and food industries

The climbing incidence of diabetes and obesity has become a serious social problem in many countries. As sugar is a leading factor causing diabetes and obesity, the use of low-caloric and non-caloric sweeteners as substitutes for sucrose has been proved effective to this problem and shown a remarkable growth in recent years. With its zero GI and high tolerance, Erythritol is considered a proper alternative to sucrose among the various sugar substitutes. This article discusses the evidence of why Erythritol stands out from various sweeteners and how Erythritol widely used in the food and food industries. A comprehensive review of the comparison of the three most common natural sweeteners, including Stevia, Xylitol, and Mogroside with Erythritol is firstly presented, which covers their common traits and Erythritol's peculiarities. And through introducing some popular food adding Erythritol, this paper elucidates the reason why many manufacturers prefer to use Erythritol to produce low-calorie and no-sugar food and how this food are produced. Finally, from an economic perspective, this paper explains the necessity of applying selective breeding and gene editing to scale up and commercialize Erythritol products.