Every sweetener, honestly scored.

Polyol blend (HSH) used as a bulking sweetener in confectionery and pharmaceutical syrups.

Sugar alcohol commonly used in hard candies and decorative sugar work — pulls and casts cleanly.

Sugar alcohol derived from lactose; ~40% sucrose sweetness, used as a bulk sweetener and laxative.

Sugar alcohol with the highest glycemic effect of common polyols (~35); often hidden in 'sugar-free' chocolate.

Sugar alcohol with strong osmotic-laxative effect; medical use as an osmotic diuretic.

Concentrated extract from sprouted barley; mostly maltose with a malty flavour.

Glucose-rich syrup made by enzymatic breakdown of brown rice starch.

Boiled-down coconut palm flower sap, sister product to coconut sugar.

Large-grain partially refined cane sugar with trace molasses retained.

The simple sugar in fruit; processed almost entirely by the liver and the metabolic villain in chronic excess.

The body's primary fuel sugar. Reference point for the glycemic index (GI = 100).

Sweet compound from licorice root; potent flavour, can raise blood pressure at chronic intake.

Soluble prebiotic fibre from chicory root and Jerusalem artichoke; mildly sweet, feeds gut bacteria.

Unrefined cane or palm sugar from South Asia; caramel-rich with trace molasses.

Milk sugar — disaccharide of glucose and galactose. Mild sweetness, large lactose-intolerant population.

Dried Peruvian lucuma fruit ground to powder; mild caramel-maple flavour, low GI.

Disaccharide of two glucose units; produced when starch is hydrolysed (e.g. brewing, malt syrups).

Viscous byproduct of sugar refining; blackstrap molasses is the most mineral-dense variety.

Dark unrefined cane sugar that retains most of its molasses — strong flavour, soft texture.

Unrefined whole cane sugar, popular in Latin America; sometimes called rapadura or piloncillo.

Partially refined raw cane sugar with a light molasses tint — the 'sugar in the raw' format.

Andean tuber syrup rich in fructooligosaccharides (FOS) — prebiotic, low glycemic.

Aspartame derivative ~20,000× sweeter than sucrose; FDA-approved 2014, used at vanishingly small doses.

Cheap artificial sweetener; banned in the US since 1969 over rodent bladder-tumour data, still authorised in EU.

Early 20th-century artificial sweetener pulled from the market in the 1950s over toxicity concerns.

Citrus-derived intense sweetener; 1,500–1,800× sucrose with a long, lingering sweetness.

Aspartame derivative 7,000–13,000× sweeter than sucrose; PKU-safe at typical exposures.

Sweet protein from the West African Pentadiplandra brazzeana berry; 500–2,000× sucrose.

Taste-modifying protein from Curculigo latifolia that makes water taste sweet.

Sugar alcohol used as a humectant and bulk sweetener; ~60% sucrose sweetness, modestly caloric.

Sesquiterpene from Lippia dulcis, ~1,000× sweeter than sucrose; not a commercial product.

Glycoprotein from the West African miracle berry; binds the tongue and makes sour foods taste sweet.

Sweet triterpene glycosides extracted from monk fruit — see also monk-fruit.

Indole-derived natural sweetener from Sclerochiton ilicifolius; 800–1,400× sucrose.

Sweet protein from Pentadiplandra brazzeana, in the same plant family as brazzein.

Synthetic glucose polymer used as a low-calorie soluble fibre and bulking agent.

Rare-sugar isomer of fructose; 90% the sweetness of sucrose, much lower glycemic response.

Sweet protein complex from Thaumatococcus daniellii; ~2,000× sucrose, used as a flavour enhancer.

Glucose-glucose disaccharide; mildly sweet, stabilises proteins, used in pharmaceuticals and frozen desserts.