Top Four Keto & Low Carb Friendly Sweeteners

Also known as "Luo Han Guo", this sweetener can be found in powdered form and is typically 200-300 times sweeter than sugar. It has a distinct fruity taste with no bitter after taste. On its own it can be rather empowering as a very tiny bit of it can go a long way. The "sweetness" is derived from mogroside IV and V which are concentrated antioxidants found in 1% of the fruit and overall don't have an impact on blood sugars. Monk fruit is found in eastern parts of Asia and the fruit itself contains carbohydrates in its natural fruit form but after drying, the amount of sugar components are drastically reduced to a negligible amount. It is considered a "natural" and "zero calorie" sweetener.

Normally monk fruit is added to other sweeteners such as rare sugars and sugar alcohols to add more weight or to dilute the potency of monk fruit. This dilution makes it more suitable to be added in a 1:1 ratio to replace sugars in order to "Ketofy" a dessert or sweet recipe that contains sugars.  

Monk fruit has different grades depending on the concentration of the mogrosides and the percentage of mogrosides is proportional to how sweet and pure the extract is. This can be all the way from 20% to 90%. We prefer using at least 80% and from a lab tested source. Our Energy Pods contain the highest grade and concentration(90% or more) of Monk Fruit extract we can find globally.

Stevia has been used in South America for more than 1500 years to sweeten teas and in medicines. Now, the extract is used globally to sweeten foods and beverages.

Stevia can either come in a powder, an extract or leaves. The stevia plant can also be grown locally depending on your climate and soil. Some people use it to brew a sweet stevia tea using the leaves on their own. The active compounds are steiol glycosides which can be 150-250 times as sweet as sugars which are heat stable. Due to this feature and its light weight, it can be diluted with other dense sweeteners such as sugar alcohols to be used in foods as a 1:1 replacement for sugars.

Much of the negative connotation around stevia revolves around studies that have shown associative risks and hence most claims hold little to no value in the general context of using it as a sweetener. We don't use it at Ketogeek due to its slightly bitter after taste but in the form of leaves, we've noticed that it doesn't have a pungent bitter after taste compared to the extract.

Xylitol is a sugar alcohol and is a white water soluble compound. Unlike sugars that impact teeth health, Xylitol(and Erythritol) do not have a negative impact on teeth. It has a slight cooling effect when consumed and is about 60-70% as sweet as sugar. With an extremely low glycemic index of 7, it is an ideal sweetener replacement for sugars when it comes to weight management. It has no known toxicity to humans though anecdotes to exist on causing digestive issues when consumed in large amounts though no issues occur at doses up to 430g of Xylitol per day. Xylitol is, however, poisonous to certain animals including dogs and hence may not be ideal in places where pets are present. Xylitol is normally broken down by our gut bacteria

Erythritol is our favorite sweetener at Ketogeek and is used in our Energy Pods due to its sweet and cooling taste and rigorous science supporting its benefits. It is zero glycemic, doesn't raise insulin and has all the benefits of Xylitol except it's not toxic to dogs. It is a sweetener found naturally in fruits and produced within our own body as well. It doesn't attract moisture and is absorbed by the body before it enters the large intestines and hence doesn't have potential the laxative effects caused by other sugar alcohols such as Xylitol and maltitol. As erythtritol also can't be processed by bacteria, it also prevents tooth decay.

Other sweeteners we are open to and are worth mentioning are below:

• Honey  - We evolved with honey. Doesn't exactly converge to Keto but a few drops here and there won't end the world.
• Other Sugar Alcohols - We heaven't done much research but are worth looking into.
• Rare Sugars (Allulose) - Too sweet for us and has a cotton candy taste. Definitely worth a check.

Sweet foods have been part of human evolution and we have hence developed a strong propensity towards sweet foods. Hence, they can be enjoyed and strategically incorporated even on a Keto or low carb diet. Usually any problems that are blamed on the sweeteners are not because of the sweetener but because of the foods that contain the sweetener as sweeteners aren't usually ingested in isolation but as a recipe or a food product that has undergone several stages of processing. Isolated science surrounding sweeteners is usually indicates their inertness and relative safety towards the body. Now go and enjoy life!