It is used in sugar-free candies, cookies (biscuits), chocolate, and ice cream, with a sweetness of 30–40% that of sucrose.

[6][7] In February 2020, Lactitol was approved for use in the United States as an osmotic laxative for the treatment of chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) in adults.

[1] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies sugar alcohols as "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS).

[medical citation needed] They are approved as food additives, and are recognized as not contributing to tooth decay or causing increases in blood glucose.

[medical citation needed] Like other sugar alcohols, lactitol causes cramping, flatulence, and diarrhea in some individuals who consume it.

These effects arise because humans lack a suitable beta-galactosidase in the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and a majority of ingested lactitol reaches the large intestine,[11] where it then becomes fermentable to gut microbes (prebiotic) and can pull water into the gut by osmosis.