Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.
In the last article we talked about the failures of
artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose and saccharin. They are
terrible for your health and well being. I’ve written other articles on stevia,
which I regularly use, and tastes fine in drinks or sprinkled on foods for
extra sweetness. But, you can’t really bake with it without altering a recipe
markedly.
I am going to introduce you to an all-natural, actual sugar
substitute called Allulose.
This real sugar is found in kiwi, jackfruit, figs, molasses, and raisins. Commercially it is extracted from corn sugars that are altered by a single molecule to become this sugar. It is a monosaccharide, or simple sugar, and is absorbed by the body, but not metabolized. That is what makes this sugar have zero calories. It is excreted by the kidneys before it is metabolized, leaving you with “effectively zero” calories.
Allulose demonstrated in studies the ability to
significantly reduce the after-meal insulin response. In other words, allulose
not only contributes very little to caloric intake and blood glucose, but it
also may help improve insulin regulation.
Many people worry about these substitutes causing
gastrointestinal issues like diarrhea, discomfort and bloating. They have
actually done studies to provide a guide for how much one can eat without
causing those symptoms,. What they found is that a 160lb person can tolerate up
to 7.5 tsp of allulose per serving before GI symptoms may appear. The more you
weigh the more you can tolerate without a problem. That’s a lot!
Allulose is only about 70% as sweet as regular sugar, but
has no net carbs. I’ve read that it takes 1 1/3 cups of allulose to have the same sweetness as 1 cup of sugar.
I cannot verify this as we have not tried baking with it yet. Allulose tastes
like sugar, bakes and freezes like sugar yet is not counted as a sugar on
labels, has “effectively zero” calories, is diabetic friendly, keto friendly
and is a real sugar, not a fake substitute.
I’ve just started learning more about this sugar myself. I
haven’t actually tried it yet, but some is in the mail. As usual, look for a
manufacturer that makes it from non-GMO sources. There are many choices on
Amazon, but maybe you can find it at some local heath stores.
If any of you have used this, shoot me an email about your
experience.