At Gnarly, we take our audience’s feedback seriously, and based on feedback we’ve heard about Erythritol (a sugar alcohol) causing discomfort for select users, we will be gradually phasing out the use of the ingredient in all of our products.
We know this ingredient has prevented athletes who are sensitive to sugar alcohols from using Gnarly (which we never want to do!), so we hope this decision will make even more people excited about fueling with Gnarly Nutrition.
What is erythritol?
Erythritol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol found in some fruit and plants, and is occasionally used in the production of cheese and wine. Like other sugar substitutes, Erythritol has zero calories and is used to sweeten and thicken sugar-free products. Because Erythritol is absorbed quickly in the small intestine, it does not have time to metabolize into energy.
Some benefits of Erythritol are that it is safe for people with diabetes to use and does not cause tooth decay, like many other sugars do. Unfortunately, like many other non-sugar sweeteners, it can cause stomach problems for a select few.
Why did we orginally use erythritol?
Gnarly originally chose Erythritol as a non-sugar sweetener for our products because Erythritol is known to cause the least amount of stomach problems, and to try to stay away from having a stevia-heavy taste. Using Erythritol in our products helped us ensure that we were using the minimal amount of sugar. Experiencing intense sugar highs and crashes during training or racing is never fun, and using Erythritol over pure sugar as a sweetener helped ensure this didn’t happen.
Moving Forward
Gnarly plans to reformulate all of our product powders by using monk fruit and stevia for sweetening and flavoring. However, this change in our product recipes will not be seen throughout the full line right away.
Currently, Berry Lemonade BCAAs, Lemon Lime BCAAs, caffeine-free Berry Lemonade BCAAs, Chocolate Vegan Protein and Vanilla Whey Protein do not have Erythritol in them. In the next two to three months, all Gnarly products will no longer have Erythritol.
Thank you for always standing by Gnarly and supporting us as we continually strive to create the best products possible.
Will Losing Erythritol Cause Changes in Flavor?
It is possible our long-time fans will notice a slight change in flavor, but the formulas are remaining 99.99% the same, so any differences will be very, very small. Personally, we think the slight change makes it even better – but then again, most of our product tasters couldn’t tell the difference. (Those who can tell – you’ve got some excellent taste bud skills!)
