(We need a forum just for discussing scientific questions people bring up. It doesn't seem to really fit into either the Research/Media forums, or the War Zone.)

So recently I've been researching on the harmful metabolic effects of fructose, like how it can lead to fatty liver and insulin resistance etc. Part of this is because it needs to be processed by the liver (unlike glucose). Large amounts of concentrated, quickly digested fructose are relatively new to the human diet. The problems with fructose metabolism are a relatively recent scientific discovery.

Fructose is also a low glycemic sweetener, but because of all the above issues with fructose-consumption, no one touts fructose as a healthy sweetener any more.

This left me wondering about sugar alcohols. They are touted as low-carb friendly because of their low glycemic index. But do they need to be processed by the liver, and can they cause similar damage to fructose? They are also relatively new to the human diet, at least in any significant quantities.

How are the various sugar alcohols processed by the body? What is the current state of the science on these and can we be sure they are safe over the long term?

I don't want to learn 20 years from now that, oops, eryrhtritol is actually ten times worse than fructose.