Artificial sweeteners (sometimes called sugar alternatives) can replace sugar in foods and drinks to give you a sweet taste but with few or no calories. They are often several hundred times sweeter than sugar. So compared to sugar, only a little is needed for the same sweet taste.

Artificial sweeteners are also known as intense sweeteners because they are many times sweeter than sugar.

Artificial sweeteners don’t melt like sugar, so the cake’s texture is often dense, dry, and lumpy—more like a biscuit than a cake. Here’s how the artificial sweeteners stack up in baking. Acesulfame potassium (or acesulfame K or ace-K) is about 200 times sweeter than sugar and has no calories.

“Non-nutritive sweeteners are far more potent than table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup. A miniscule amount produces a sweet taste comparable to that of sugar, without comparable calories.

As you cut back on the sugar, try these naturally sweet alternatives to flavor your iced coffee instead:

1. Cinnamon.
2. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder.
3. Extracts.
4. Unsweetened Vanilla Almond or Soy Milk.
5. Coconut Milk.
6. Coconut Cream.

Stevia-based sweeteners are suitable for baking; however, they can’t replace sugar cup for cup in recipes. It’s best to leave at least 1/4 cup of sugar in the recipe to help with browning and provide texture. You likely will need to use a lower baking temperature and increase the baking time.

In this article, we look at seven of the best low-calorie sweeteners for people with diabetes.

1. Stevia. Share on Pinterest Stevia is a popular alternative to sugar.
2. Tagatose. Tagatose is a form of fructose that is around 90 percent sweeter than sucrose.
3. Sucralose.
4. Aspartame.
5. Acesulfame potassium.
6. Saccharin.
7. Neotame.