What sweetener is used in sugar free gummy bears?

We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Here’s our process.

Healthline only shows you brands and products that we stand behind.

Our team thoroughly researches and evaluates the recommendations we make on our site. To establish that the product manufacturers addressed safety and efficacy standards, we:

• Evaluate ingredients and composition: Do they have the potential to cause harm?
• Fact-check all health claims: Do they align with the current body of scientific evidence?
• Assess the brand: Does it operate with integrity and adhere to industry best practices?

We do the research so you can find trusted products for your health and wellness.

They’re a sweet treat, but before you reach for a bag, you might want to know something: Some gummy bears could send you rushing to the restroom.

Ingredients in sugar-free gummy bears have fueled scathing and embarrassingly funny online reviews, but if you’re the one caught feeling the side effects, the results are anything but amusing.

“It’s been 15 agonizing hours since the first gummy bear entered my body, and I’m typing this from a toilet,” reads one Amazon review for Haribo’s sugar-free gummy bears on Amazon.com.

Are You Eating Too Much Sugar? Take This Quiz and Find Out

The reviews are written with flourish and range from the helpful to the way-too-graphic.

“Then came the, uh, flatulence. Heavens to Murgatroyd, the sounds…” reads another. “I couldn’t stand to stay in one room for fear of succumbing to my own odors.”

One reviewer titled their contribution: “Chemical weapons-grade gummy bears.” Another speculates: “Customers who bought this also bought: Pepto-Bismol, 4-pack of baby wipes, stomach pump, air freshener,” and more.

As humorous as these reviews might be, the potential side effects of these gummy bears are real, and here’s why.

Sugar alcohols are found naturally in certain fruits and vegetables, but they’re also often added to processed, sugar-free foods in place of sugar or other artificial sweeteners.

While sugar alcohols, at 2 calories per gram, contain fewer calories than sugar, which has 4 calories per gram, they’re more calorie-heavy than artificial sweeteners, like aspartame, which are calorie-free.

Because sugar alcohols don’t affect blood sugar levels as much as sugar, you’ll often find them included in foods marketed to people with diabetes. They’re found in:

• candy
• frozen foods and desserts
• chewing gum
• toothpaste
• chocolate
• baked goods

In addition to sweetening foods, sugar alcohols are used to add bulk and help foods stay moist. But they have one major caveat, as the gummy bear reviews reveal.

In the case of Haribo’s sugarless gummies, the sugar alcohol culprit is maltitol, which you can find in the ingredient lycasin.

But this isn’t the only sugar alcohol that could lead to unpleasant digestive symptoms. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics affirms that consuming more than 30 grams of any sugar alcohols like lacticol, isomalt, or xylitol can have similar effects.

No, Tom Daley, Lemon Water Doesn’t Give You Abs

From the Amazon reviews of these particular gummy bears, it would seem that some people are more sensitive than others to these effects. If you have a reaction, you could experience increased:

• flatulence
• watery stools
• bowel movement frequency
• borborygmus, or rumbling and gurgling noises from your intestines

It can be more serious or uncomfortable for people with bowel diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome.

But avoiding the effects of sugarless gummy bears may not be so difficult, since the Amazon-reviewed culprits are no longer available. But if you want to avoid taking them in via other foods, look no further than nutritional labels.

Polyols is another name for sugar alcohols. You may also see them listed as:

• sorbitol
• xylitol
• isomalt
• lactitol
• mannitol
• hydrogenated starch hydrolysates

Another popular alternative sweetener, erythritol, is a sugar alcohol as well. However, erythritol does not cause unpleasant digestive issues when consumed at doses similar to other sugar alcohols due to its high absorption in the bloodstream circumventing the colon.

Nevertheless, it is also possible to have some digestive issues when taking erythritol at higher doses.

While you’ll most often find sugar alcohols in baked goods, candies, and chewing gum, you can also find them in health-related products like:

• low carb sports bars
• mouthwash
• toothpaste
• vitamins
• some medicines

In general, it’s wise to be wary of foods that are labeled sugar-free, and to investigate what ingredients are used to sweeten them.