Sorbitol

Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol that is similar in structure to fructose. Sorbitol is as intolerable as fructose, regardless of whether you have hereditary fructose intolerance or fructose malabsorption. This is why the "sorbitol bombs" apricots, cherries, and plums although relatively low in fructose, are absolutely off limits for people with fructose intolerance.

The sorbitol content of sour cherries, for example, is between 0.4 and almost 3g /100g, and that of sweet cherries is between 1.4 and 4.5g. This high sorbitol content is responsible for the old wives tale not to fill your stomach with cherries and to drink water, as sorbitol has a laxative effect in large quantities, and not only in people with fructose/sorbitol intolerance.

Sorbitol is also widely used as a sugar substitute in diet products and is incredibly common in almost all toothpastes.

Sorbitol should be avoided by those with fructose intolerance, as a coexisting sorbitol intolerance is also the rule rather than the exception in the case of fructose malabsorption.