how are sugar free foods low cal?

Question

I’ve got some monk fruit sweetener and it says that there are 4 grams carbs per serving yet it claims zero calories. The carbs are erythritol. If 4 grams of sugar had 16 calories, 1 gram of carb has 4 calories, why wouldn’t this monk fruit sweetener have the same calories as sugar?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Your body is unable to digest erythritol. While the sugar itself does have calories your body can’t take advantage of them and it just passes through your body.