Sorbitol is also called sugar alcohol or glucitol. It is a sugar alcohol that is metabolised slowly by the body. The chemical formula of Sorbitol is C6H14O6. It is a sweetening agent that is used widely as a substitute for sugar in diet drinks and foods as it reduces the calories that sugar would have provided by fifty per cent. It is used in medicine, where it is an ingredient in cough syrup. Sorbitol is also used as a thickener or humectant in cosmetics. Especially those that are transparent in appearance. It is also found used in cigarettes where it acts as a humectant. The use of Sorbitol in medicine has been recently debated as excess amounts of the chemical have been known to cause gastro-intestinal problems.
