what is sorbitol?

Recently I've been trying to stop eating artificial sweetners, and I've completely cut them out of my diet, but just now, I read the ingredients in a box of my favorite granola bars (Quaker Chewy Chocolate Chip) that I eat everyday, and I found the ingredient sorbitol in it. I looked it up and I couldn't really find any info on what it is. Is it an artificial sweetner? Is it bad? Someone help!

anyonee?

Sorbital is a sweet white crystalline alcohol which is used as an artificial sweetener for diabetics and in some "sugar-free" foods, usually candies.  It is also a powerful laxative and is used medically as such.  The amounts of sorbital in things like that granola bar shouldn't cause any diarrhea or cramping unless you eat a lot of it.  

It's a sugar alcohol. If you have problems after eating sugar-free candies or chocolate, it's probably a sugar alcohol that did it. Not a healthy thing.

so its not natural?

Sugar alcohols are mainly used in sugar-free gum. They can occur naturally in plants or can be processed from sugars and starches.

This page will educate you on sugar alcohols including sorbitol. From what I know, sorbitol won't rot your teeth like regular sugar, and it won't spike your blood sugar like regular sugar. It is also lower in calories than a gram of regular sugar.

Sorbitol is contained in prunes, as a note. One of the places it naturally occurs. It's a large part of why they help you go. ;]

sorbitol is an artificial sweetner like you'd find in sugar-free gum, some diet sodas, or a sugar-free chocolate bar, etc.