Xylitol vs Erythritol: what is the difference?

How they differ

Both are sugar alcohols used in sugar-free gum and tabletop sweeteners, and they differ by one carbon: C5H12O5 against C4H10O4. That single carbon changes what the body does with them. Erythritol is absorbed in the small intestine and excreted largely unchanged, so it reaches the gut bacteria in small amounts and causes less digestive upset; xylitol is fermented further along and is the more likely of the two to cause it. Xylitol is the sweeter, roughly as sweet as sugar, while erythritol lands near 70 percent. One difference is not about people at all: xylitol is dangerously toxic to dogs, and erythritol is not.

Side by side

Structural similarity 0.67 of 1, computed as a Morgan fingerprint Tanimoto coefficient. It measures shape, not effect.

Common questions

What is the difference between Xylitol and Erythritol?

Both are sugar alcohols used in sugar-free gum and tabletop sweeteners, and they differ by one carbon: C5H12O5 against C4H10O4. That single carbon changes what the body does with them. Erythritol is absorbed in the small intestine and excreted largely unchanged, so it reaches the gut bacteria in small amounts and causes less digestive upset; xylitol is fermented further along and is the more likely of the two to cause it.

Is Xylitol bigger than Erythritol?

Xylitol is the heavier molecule, 152.15 g/mol against 122.12 g/mol for Erythritol. Xylitol is C5H12O5 and Erythritol is C4H10O4.