Abstract In the past few decades, consumers are more mindful of their health than they used to be, especially in food, drinks and medicines, and using sweeteners to replace sugar is an effective strategy. Alternative sugars are part of the category of sweeteners used in foods, also called non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), and include artificial or natural sweeteners. These alternative sugars are characterized by low or zero calories, leading to a sharp increase in consumer demand for such sweeteners. Bioproduction of low-calorie sweeteners from low-cost raw materials becomes a hot spot. However, as the demand and use of alternative sugars have increased dramatically, the excessive use of alternative sugars has also been linked to hyperphagia and obesity-related disorders. In this article, we summarize the classification and synthesis of artificial sweeteners and the extraction methods of natural sweeteners, and discuss the health benefits and potential adverse effects of these alternative sugars.
