Maltitol

Maltitol is a sugar alcohol, or polyol, used as both a sugar substitute and a laxative, chemically known as 4-O-alpha-glucopyranosyl-D-sorbitol and sold under trade names including Lesys, Maltisweet and SweetPearl. It provides about 75 to 90 percent of sucrose's sweetness at roughly half the calories and does not promote tooth decay, and it is manufactured by hydrogenating maltose obtained from starch, or, as maltitol syrup, by hydrogenating corn syrup to yield a hydrogenated starch hydrolysate that is typically 50 to 80 percent maltitol with sorbitol making up most of the remainder. It produces less of the cooling sensation associated with some other sugar alcohols and behaves similarly enough to sucrose that it is often used in food applications on its own, without needing to be paired with another sweetener.