Category: sweetener
Aliases: E966, Lactit, Lactositol, Lactobiosit, Lactitol monohydrate, 4-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-D-glucitol, 4-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-D-sorbitol
A disaccharide polyol (galactose β-1,4-linked to glucitol) used as a reduced-calorie bulk sweetener, roughly 0.3–0.4x as sweet as sucrose. Resistant to salivary and small-intestinal disaccharidases and essentially unabsorbed, so it delivers negligible glycemic/insulinemic load and only ~2 kcal/g. The unabsorbed sugar alcohol reaches the colon, where it is osmotically active and fermented by resident microbiota to short-chain fatty acids, CO2 and H2 — the basis of its laxative use. As a pharmaceutical it mirrors lactulose: colonic acidification lowers luminal pH, trapping ammonia as non-diffusible NH4+ for fecal excretion, lowering blood ammonia in hepatic encephalopathy. Excess intake draws water into the lumen, producing the dose-dependent osmotic diarrhea and flatulence characteristic of polyols.
E966; a bulk sweetener about 0.4x as sweet as sucrose (~2 kcal/g). JECFA/EU assign no numerical ADI ("not specified"); GRAS-status / approved in the US, EU and elsewhere (the lactitol drug Pizensy was FDA-approved in 2020 for chronic idiopathic constipation). Like other polyols it is laxative in excess, so EU labels carry "excessive consumption may produce laxative effects." Tooth-friendly (non-cariogenic) and low-glycemic. It is a galactose-containing disaccharide alcohol (~47% galactopyranosyl by mass): contraindicated in galactosemia / patients requiring a low-galactose diet — the FDA Pizensy label and food-additive assessments flag this, paralleling lactulose, so its galactose content is NOT considered safe in classic galactosemia.