According to a study conducted by Brightfield Group, low sugar was ranked highest on the list of priorities of nutritional attribute by consumers in 2023. Every other day, you meet another friend looking for food options with sugar alternatives, trying to cut down on sugar and look out for their health. With the consumers for sugar alternatives growing, there are a plethora of options in the market to choose from. However, a huge range of these products aren’t able to survive in the long run, primarily due to one reason – taste. While a lot of us try to look for healthier options for our routinely meals, taste always ends up being on the top of the priority list. However, there have been products which have somehow cracked the code and offered both to the consumers – the preservation of their health as well as good sensory appeal.
What if I was to tell you that, you could have the same food which you craved for, without any guilt, and meanwhile also not harming your health? Too good to be true? It would be a diabetic dream indeed. The food would taste exactly how your memory reminds you of, but just an additional component, one that would be the boon to all your sugar cravings. Not only would it have an effect on the absorption of sugar in the bloodstream but would also turn into a fiber for the gut. Okay, now before you start doubting my sanity, lets get into more details of this technology.
This product has been created by Scientists from the Harvard’s University – Wyss Institute. Kraft Heinz reached out to them to cut sweeteners in their product without compromising on any of their benefits. The scientist had some other plans in their mind. The devised technology called as ‘sugar to fibre’ technology dealt with combating the sugar habit while conserving the original taste using an enzyme. The enzyme breaks down sugar to glucose and fructose, and makes inulin by linking the fructoses together. Inulin, the fibre is then worked upon the gut microbiome. Using nanoencapsulation, this enzyme is covered within tiny pectin cages. Pectin plays an important role here, as pectin is only activated in the intestine, where it frees up the encaged enzyme, allowing it to convert sugar to fiber. The Institute aimed to reduce the absorbed sugar by 30%. Conversion to fiber also acts as an added advantage here as most people today do not consume enough fiber in their daily diet. Kraft Heinz later got disassociated post the initial funding. The Institute later worked with another company to introduce the enzyme to the market by licensing the technology.
Working on Parallel pathways, Zya another startup is working with another inulosucrase for one of its products named Converso. This enzyme also turns sugar into fibre. This enzyme however doesn’t require any additional coating as in its dried version it remains inactive in the packed food. The director of Business Development Partnership at the Wyss Institute, Sam Inverso mentions that this product would pave the pathway for products that would aim on other composites such as lactose and gluten, helping another section of our population.
Not just products, but this has also paved pathway for other organizations to work on similar products. Monch Monch, a drink mix introduced by Biolumen, contains of microscopic sponges that reduce sugar absorption by soaking up the sugar. It doesn’t have any taste or color of its own, and can be consumed with any beverage during a meal. Its believed that the sugar is either acted upon by bacteria in the intestine or passed out in stools. The sponges swell in the stomach, giving a sense of satiety. The sponges with hydrogels of soluble fibres soak up the glucose, fructose, and other starches. It also prevents fat accumulation in liver. In the intestine, microbiome generates short chain fatty acids by acting on them. Lustig, a neuroendocrinologist, mentions that 1 g of this drink mix, could sequester around 6g of sugar. This product is already in the market, approved by FDA. Speaking on the front that this product could cause gastrointestinal issues due to overload on the intestine, Biolumen has conducted trials, and found no other clinical issues. However, at the cost of 150$ a month assuming 2 sachets per day, isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. Scaling up the product and making it available to masses would be one potential area to work upon.
Alongside these sugar elimination methods, companies are constantly working to reduce sugar in existing products, to fight against the ticking time bomb. Artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, and natural ingredients such as Stevia, continue to compete in the race for healthier alternatives. Sugar alternatives do reach a dead end though. Sugar plays a much more pivotal role in the food than just adding sweetness. It adds texture, it adds bulk, and in certain cases also a caramelized note. Alternative sweeteners often interfere with the original taste of the food. Apart from compromises on the taste front, it also involves other fronts including costs, regulations, and market positioning.
Allulose here is another interesting topic to be touched upon. Cereal Startup – Magic Spoon uses allulose for its products. The benefit of using this natural sugar is the fact that it does work upon the bulk and caramel nature of the target product but isn’t metabolized by the human body. This also means that FDA guidance permits its exclusion from the sugar category on the nutrition label. It claims that it matches with 70% of the perceived sweetness of table sugar. Blommer Chocolate has yet here worked upon another interesting modification. It uses Incredo for its confectionary products, which is basically a modified Sugar that has higher dissolution rate in Saliva, increasing its perception on the tongue. It relieves the company of 50% of the sugar load in the product.
How Many of this products would work in the Indian Market? Dr Anil, a senior diabetologist mentions about the native nature of the Indian diet. The native diet doesn’t need to reduce the sugar consumption as it only accounts to 5% of the diet, which is why all studies encourage to move back to our Indian diet, and stay away from Western diets. Moreover, the effect in terms of safety would only truly be shown on Indians, by the proportion of the Indians in the clinical trials conducted.
All of this said, if these products do enter the market eventually, it would only encourage people to have even more sugar loaded foods. Would it really solve all the issues in the first place? Or would it add up to even further problems? Also, the safety aspect of what effect these technologies and products would create in the long run, only time would tell. However, these tools would surely serve us well, in a world where giving up on sweet treats seems difficult.
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