There is a new low caloric sweetener that is coming on the market called Allulose. Here's an article on it:
Allulose, also known by its scientific name, Psicose, is a rare sugar that can be found in small quantities in nature in fruits like figs and jack fruit. It would be impracticable or uneconomic to extract enough of it from nature. However, it was discovered that with a use of an enzyme, fructose can be converted to allulose in marketable quantities.
OK, what's special about allulose? A few things. First, it pretty much tastes and cooks like sucrose. It also has the same mouthfeel. So it can be an (almost) direct substitute for sucrose. Second, it's almost non-caloric, with less than 10% the calories gram for gram of sucrose. Third, it appears to have zero impact on blood glucose levels and is not digested. I've read a few of the studies - all seem to confirm that there is negligible blood glucose impact, maybe even helps to bring it down.
The FDA has deemed it deemed it generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and it can now be used in products.
It's hard to find this stuff right now. It's only really available on the commercial market - but I managed to find some through a commercial chocolatier.
What's the catch? Why isn't this being used everywhere? Good questions! Part of the issue is labeling. USDA regards it as a sugar, so if you use 20 grams of allulose per serving, it has to show 20 grams of sugar and 20 grams of carbohydrates even though it's really net 0 of both. The industry is for obvious reasons very interested in getting a different label. So far, I believe a few manufacturers are using it in products - the most widely recognized is Quest cereal bars. There's a website that is promising all sorts of good things coming with it, but right now, there's still not much on the market: http://allulose.org
I've never liked any of the sweetener options. Stevia just sucks. Asparame has a nasty aftertaste. Sucralose tastes weird to me. The sugar alcohols have GI impacts and/or can kill your dog.
I've been using this for about a week now and a few things.
Taste: It's very good. The closest I can compare it to is sucrose. It has none of the chemical aftertastes of artificial sweeteners. I've mainly used it to sweeten coffee and tea. I also made some caramel with it which turned out to be excellent. It is not quite as bright as sugar, doesn't hit the tongue it quite the same way - a bit subtler, a bit less sweet. That actually works for me since dropping sugar my sensitivity to sweets has gone way way up. Someone use to sucrose might think it's a little dull. That being said, its plenty sweet enough, and you can always up the amount that you use by 30% to achieve similar sweetness. The recipe I used for the caramel was the same as a sucrose recipe substituting only the sucrose for allulose in 1:1 proportions. There's at least one recipe for ice cream that is very tempting to try, but I don't have an ice cream maker right now.
As far as I can tell so far it has a similar texture and mouthfeel as well. The product I have is something between granulated and powdered sugar.
BG levels: As far as I can tell so far - no impact. I've done several tests and each time I've had a slight dip in my BG levels (a few points, not significant). I have not seen any raised levels.
Digestion: The issue with a lot of the non-caloric sugar alcohols is GI symptoms. I was wondering if this might cause a similar problem because it bypasses digestion in similar way. But so far, I really haven't noticed any at all. And, I'm on metformin - so you'd think the threshold might be a bit lower. In any case, so far so good.
Downsides? Honestly, so far, not many. It's hard to find and pricey.
3 lbs of sugar runs - what, 2 bucks? This is $25 for same amount - AND, almost that much in shipping costs. So. . .it ain't cheap.
But, 3 lbs is a lot and will last me a long long time - so really, while it's a lot more expensive than sugar, it's really not that much per serving since I use so little - a spoonful here or there.
There's unknown risks. I haven't found any studies on impacts on things like gut bacteria that has been linked to all kinds of things including diabetes. Who knows - I'll be testing regularly to monitor.
And, until a large number of people are taking this in in large quantities for a while we may not know how it might impact us. Right now, all there is to go by is the GRAS determination.
I'm personally pretty excited about this and cautiously optimistic. And I'm definitely enjoying my afternoon tea and morning coffee with a bit of sweetness for a change.
Social Plugin