Why We Skip Erythritol
Erythritol is the default sweetener in the better-for-you aisle. We use monk fruit and stevia instead, and this is the reasoning.
Erythritol is the most common sweetener in the better-for-you drink aisle. It is not in Novasecco, and that was a deliberate decision rather than a cost one.
What Erythritol Is
Erythritol is a sugar alcohol. It is cheap, it measures like sugar, it carries almost no calories and it has been widely used for years across sugar-free products. On paper it is an easy choice, which is why so much of the category made it.
What Changed
Recent research has suggested an association between high circulating levels of erythritol and cardiovascular risk. The word doing the work in that sentence is suggested. This is an association observed in research, not a settled conclusion, and erythritol remains permitted and widely sold.
Our position is simply that we did not need to be in that conversation at all. When a question mark appears over an ingredient we were only using for convenience, the reasonable move is to use something else.
What We Use Instead
Novasecco is sweetened with monk fruit and stevia (Reb A). Both are recognised as safe by the FDA and neither carries the association above.
They also happen to taste better in this format, which matters more than it sounds. The single most common thing people say about Novasecco is that it is not too sweet. That is not an accident of restraint, it is what these two sweeteners do when they are balanced properly instead of pushed to mask something.
Why Naming The Sweetener Matters
Plenty of labels say sugar free and stop there. That leaves the buyer to guess, and most people guess artificial, because that is what the last twenty years of diet drinks taught them.
Naming monk fruit and stevia answers the question before it is asked. Zero sugar tells you what is absent. Monk fruit and stevia tell you what is present. The two halves protect each other, and only together do they actually settle the matter.
The Short Version
We chose the sweeteners we were most comfortable with, not the cheapest ones on the list. If that costs a little more per can, it is the kind of cost worth carrying.