Are you trying to satisfy a sweet tooth in a healthier manner? The best alternative is to remove sugar and other sweeteners from your diet but not everyone can do that. Some sugar lovers turn to artificial sweeteners, like sucralose or aspartame, for the taste of sugar without the calories, but research shows these sweeteners aren’t beneficial for metabolic health. There’s even evidence that they alter the gut ecosystem, the bacterial residents in the gut that play a powerful role in gut and immune health.
Therefore, it’s not surprising that people are looking for low or no-calorie sweetener alternatives that are safe and natural. One such alternative that came to market in 2015 is allulose, which is available in some packaged products and as a standalone sweetener. Interest in this sugar alternative is growing as more people become aware of it.
What is Allulose?
Allulose is a monosaccharide (a type of sugar molecule) found in some fruits and vegetables, including jackfruit, raisins, and figs. It’s similar in structure to fructose. However, rearrangement of some of its molecules means it doesn’t have the same physiological effects in your body as fructose. Although allulose occurs naturally in some fruits, commercial allulose is made from fructose derived from corn and other plants.
Does Allulose Affect Blood Sugar?
Allulose is about 70% as sweet as sugar and contains around 10% of the calories of an equivalent amount of sugar. It has a lower glycemic index than table sugar and doesn’t cause blood sugar spikes, like a sugar-based sweetener would. Plus, it has no effect on insulin release. This makes it an appealing sweetener alternative for diabetics and those with prediabetes.
How does your digestive tract handle allulose? When you consume allulose, your small intestines take up allulose, but don’t absorb it, rather they excrete it. So, you don’t get a significant insulin response or a rise in blood sugar. Plus, you only absorb a small quantity of the calories, around 10%.
Some research suggests allulose may be beneficial for blood glucose control. One study found that when participants consumed allulose with a meal, their blood glucose level was lower 30 minutes later. Some research even shows it reduces insulin and improves insulin sensitivity.
Allulose, Weight Loss, and Health
Can allulose help with weight control? A study in rats showed that those who consumed allulose gained less weight and their lipid levels improved. Studies show that allulose increases fatty oxidation and reduces fatty acid synthesis, which should favor weight loss.
Plus, rodent studies also show allulose may reduce fat accumulation in the liver in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a disease marked by insulin resistance. In fact, allulose could be beneficial for body composition. One study found it helps protect against muscle loss in rodents.
Be aware that these are animal studies, and we need more data on the health benefits of allulose of humans. Still, allulose doesn’t have a significant impact on blood sugar or insulin release in humans, and the lack of significant calories gives it an edge over sugar. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) exempted allulose from inclusion in the total sugar count on nutritional levels, because it doesn’t raise blood sugar.
Yet there are still unanswered questions, such as how allulose affects the gut microbiome. Being a newer sweetener, it will take time for answers to be available. Some studies even suggest that allulose may exert its weight loss benefits through its effects on the gut microbiome.
Is Allulose Safe?
The Food and Drug Administration granted allulose GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status. According to their guidelines, this means:
- The substance is safe for use under the intended conditions of use.
- The substance does not have a history of causing any toxic or harmful effects on humans or animals.
- The substance is generally recognized, among qualified experts, as having been adequately shown to be safe under the conditions of its intended use.
As far as side effects, most people can consume allulose in moderate quantities with few or no side effects. However, if you consumed large quantities, you could experience digestive side effects, like bloating or gas. But unlike sugar alcohols, another non-nutritive sweetener, the risk of this happening is lower and the amount you’d have to consume higher. According to one study, you’d have to consume 54 grams of allulose before digestive side effects would become an issue.
How to Use Allulose
You can use allulose in baking, cooking, and other sweet applications, just like regular sugar. It comes in a granulated form, available at natural food markets and online. It’s also an ingredient in some protein bars, jams, jellies, syrups, yogurts, and sodas. Also offered is allulose in syrup form, that you can spoon into liquids or use in baking. Unlike some artificial sweeteners and even natural sweeteners, like Stevia, it doesn’t have a bitter aftertaste.
The Bottom Line
Allulose is a sweetener alternative that offers advantages over sugar. Unlike sugar, linked with weight gain and insulin resistance, allulose may help with blood sugar control and even improve insulin sensitivity. Plus, there’s evidence that it may help with weight loss due to its lower calorie count and its effect on fatty acid breakdown.
Don’t go overboard with allulose tough. The goal should be to reduce the amount of sweet stuff that you consume. By doing this, your brain and taste buds adapt, and you don’t crave or enjoy sugar as much. But if you can’t completely nix sugar, allulose may be a more metabolically healthier alternative.
References:
- “What Is Allulose? – Food Insight.” 15 Dec. 2021, https://foodinsight.org/what-is-allulose-a-different-kind-of-low-calorie-sweetener/.
- “Allulose: What to Know – WebMD.” https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/what-is-alluose.
- “Is Allulose a Healthy Sweetener?.” 10 Sept. 2017, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/allulose.
- “Is Allulose Safe to Consume? Potential Benefits and Risks – Dr. Axe.” 22 Apr. 2020, https://draxe.com/nutrition/allulose/.
- “Study Finds Anti-Obesity Potential of Allulose – Allulose.” 04 Jun. 2019, https://allulose.org/study-finds-anti-obesity-potential-of-allulose/.
- Chen J, Huang W, Zhang T, Lu M, Jiang B. Anti-obesity potential of rare sugar d-psicose by regulating lipid metabolism in rats. Food & Function. 2019;10(5):2417-2425. doi:10.1039/c8fo01089g
- “FDA allows allulose to be excluded from sugar counts on labels.” https://www.fda.gov/news-events/fda-brief/fda-brief-fda-allows-low-calorie-sweetener-allulose-be-excluded-total-and-added-sugars-counts.
- Han Y, Park H, Choi BR, Ji Y, Kwon EY, Choi MS. Alteration of Microbiome Profile by D-Allulose in Amelioration of High-Fat-Diet-Induced Obesity in Mice. Nutrients. 2020 Jan 29;12(2):352. doi: 10.3390/nu12020352. PMID: 32013116; PMCID: PMC7071329.
- Ruiz-Ojeda FJ, Plaza-Díaz J, Sáez-Lara MJ, Gil A. Effects of Sweeteners on the Gut Microbiota: A Review of Experimental Studies and Clinical Trials. Adv Nutr. 2019 Jan 1;10(suppl_1):S31-S48. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmy037. Erratum in: Adv Nutr. 2020 Mar 1;11(2):468. PMID: 30721958; PMCID: PMC6363527.
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