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Engineered healthier sugar that tastes good
- kevin_thibedeau 7y agoIt would be nice if the trope of the "mad scientist" would die.
- Gibbon1 7y agoBe nice if they stopped trying to make everything candy sweet
- m463 7y agoBut there's this certain behavior people develop when they get older, where they worry less about what other people think and worry more about what really makes them happy. So you end up with Doc Brown types obsessing about their science project and less about grooming their eyebrows and ear hair. This also explains older men riding ridiculous recumbent bikes in strange bike outfits. and then these wonderful quirky inventors get interviewed...
- foxyv 7y agoI used to think recumbent bikes were ridiculous until I rode one. They are insanely fun! You look silly but there is a reason people still ride them despite that =)
- Ericson2314 7y agoEven if sugar itself causes the fast majority of the harm, I wouldn't be surprised if weaning oneself from the subjective experience of sweetness had some benefits. Have the studies on artificial sweeteners investigated it?
- agentwiggles 7y agoAnecdotally, I've noticed that if I avoid all sweets (and especially soda) I tend to have less of a sweet tooth. If I give myself leeway, and start taking donuts and candy that show up at work, I feel like my resistance to sweets drops precipitously and I'm much more likely to "just take one more."
- Ericson2314 7y agoThat is my anecdote observing myself, too.
- ssijak 7y agoOne junk chocolate cake piece can leave me with 1-2 days of constant cravings for junk sweets. Where my mind constantly pops up thoughts of cookies and cakes and wants me to buy them and I must exert will to resist. But, if I don’t eat junk sweets for 10+ days my taste and body just adopts and I don’t think about cookies at all. Even if I am at celebrations where people eat a lot of junk cakes, I don’t have to use will at all to stay away from them. Processed sugar for me is more addictive for me than drugs. Ordinary whole food carbs (I am a vegan so I eat a lot of unprocessed carbs) do not have that effect at all for me, quite the opposite in fact.
- agentwiggles 7y agoI consider sugar to be by far my worst addiction, I can moderate on alcohol and pot with no issue, but with sugar I really need an all or nothing approach.
- Tomminn 7y agoI think part of the problem with an approach like this is it seems sweetness itself triggers a whole path of biochemical processes that are unhelpful [1]. [1] https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/biomedres/28/2/28_2_79/_article/-char/ja/ https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/biomedres/28/2/28_2_79/...
- Gibbon1 7y agoNot going to go back into it but also read more or less recently is your digestive system has 'taste buds' but they are connected to the enteric nervous system. So that's another potential signaling pathway.
- petra 7y agoWhat percentage of insulin is released because of taste and what percentage because of blood glucose levels ?
- untoreh 7y agoprobably this is also why other natural sweeteners arent that widespread, since the problem is not the calories, but the actual sweetness
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- MrBuddyCasino 7y ago"metabolic dysfunction, coupled with reduced central sensitivity to sweet taste, occurs when an LCS is repeatedly consumed with, but not without, a carbohydrate" https://www.genengnews.com/news/metabolism-and-glucose-sensitivity-disrupted-when-low-cal-sweetener-consumed-with-added-carbs/ https://www.genengnews.com/news/metabolism-and-glucose-sensi...
- petra 7y agoThank you Mate, that's some life changing research.
- tdburn 7y agoYou could lessen the sugar even further by combining this with stevia to cover the bitterness that can happen with Stevia. More choices for the win
- missosoup 7y agoFun fact: there exists a chiral mirror of sugar called L-sucrose which tastes and cooks exactly like sugar but is not bioavailable. It's the ultimate 0 calorie sugar. The only issue is it costs like 200 bucks a gram to produce.
- scarejunba 7y agoMy god, this is amazing. I don't even know why I didn't think something like this may exist even though we all studied isomers in school. Are there other flavouring agents that use non-bioavailable isomers that pass right through us? This is so fun to have learned about!
- sam36 7y agoIt was done with cooking oil at one time. Problem is it gave most of the test subjects diarrhea after eating a bag of potato chips that were fried in it. Of course anyone that eats a bag of potato chips is at risk of that anyway...
- scarejunba 7y agoGod damn it. That happens to me with Xylitol and Maltitol. Guess I just have to suck it up and not eat sweet stuff.
- fodmap 7y agoAre those sugar alcohols the only ones giving you trouble? Did you get tested for Fructose malabsorption?
- scarejunba 7y agoInteresting, but that sounds like a thing I wouldn't want to treat! Less fatness eh? Yeah, they are the ones that give me trouble.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- gexla 7y agoThis seems like marketing hype. Lt's create some new food thing which allows us to put some flash claim on the wrapper. This seems to be aimed at a health concience crowd, maybe the sort of thing which would be in special displays with overpriced products which people most in need won't even look at. Would this invention make its way to products in dollar stores? Walmart? Cutting sugar in half likely won't help most people who are obese. They're still going to be eating too much of the wrong food. Much of this food isn't even sweet. At least drinking the Koolaid might involve less sugar. ;)
- spodek 7y agoI got a healthy sugar that tastes good: fresh fruit. I was a kid once, too young to know better, and liked sweet. Now nothing beats fresh fruit. Even many vegetables are sweet. This stuff sounds like engineered garbage and I will bet anyone that we will uncover serious health concerns from it.
- 3131s 7y agoAgreed, and I'm more curious anyways about the numerous fruits that have this same effect of increasing the perception of sweetness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaumatococcus_daniellii https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaumatococcus_daniellii https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscoreophyllum_volkensii https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscoreophyllum_volkensii https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentadiplandra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentadiplandra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capparis_masaikai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capparis_masaikai "The fruit contains monellin, an intensely sweet protein with potential use as a sugar replacement. For humans, monellin is 100,000 times sweeter than sucrose on a molar basis and around 3,000 times on a weight basis."
- stOneskull 7y agoi love the way some vegetables get sweeter when cooked. like carrots in the oven. yum.
- EamonnMR 7y agoAren't we already pretty much there with Sucralose and Xylitol?
- Broken_Hippo 7y agoSucralose is way sweeter, doesn't have the same taste, and doesn't really cook like sugar. Sure, it'll do OK (diluted with some starch) in your muffins and it'll sweeten your coffee, but you aren't going to use that to caramelize the top of anything either. I'm not sure if I've ever commonly seen Xylitol for home use: Most commonly, I've seen it in chewing gum and such things as it seems it is good for teeth. It can cause gas and loose stools, though - a common issue with artificial sweetners (Sorbitol causes both my spouse and I issues: We know when we've eaten too much of the "wrong" candy by the foul smelling apartment air).
- throw_away 7y agoJust a note: even small amounts of xylitol can be dangerous or even deadly to dogs.
- Broken_Hippo 7y agoI did not know that, nor do I have dogs - but might have one again in the future. Thanks for the note.
- krageon 7y agoCurrent popular sweeteners are pretty easy to tell apart from real sugar because they taste faintly bad (and yes, I've done blind taste tests - I can always tell). If this doesn't have that funky aftertaste, that'd be a huge improvement.
- Klonoar 7y agoI like testing this stuff as a hobby. Hands down the best (current) alternative to sugar I've found is Lakanto. They also have a maple syrup that tastes amazing. I don't find myself missing sugar with it.
- 01100011 7y agoYeah, monkfruit and erythritol seem like a good pair. I'd probably add a tad of stevia too, but that's me. I find those three work pretty well as long as you don't try to generate all of the sweetness from them. Using them 50:50 with sugar or dextrose seems like a good balance. I liked xylitol for a while, but the cooling sensation and the gut bacteria effects turned me off.
- Klonoar 7y agoI personally won't use xylitol in my house due to the risk of my dogs getting it, though I understand others don't face that risk. :) Yeah, the 50/50 approach with sugar can work - I just try to remove as much as possible or eat fruit if I'm craving sugar.
- fodmap 7y agoHave you tried rice syrup?
- surround 7y ago“Artificial sweetener” is often used misleadingly. Natural sweeteners, the most common being sucralose, are not healthier. I had an unpleasant realization from eating a low-calorie yogurt which advertised “no artificial sweeteners!” only to read sucralose on its ingredients list. I’d guess that >90% of protein bars/drinks contain sucralose (which is ironic because carbs from sugar would be more useful to athletes than the emptiness of sucralose). Instead of artificial sweeteners, people have to avoid low-calorie sweeteners in general. This is difficult - there are dozens of different low-calories sweeteners besides sucralose. They are often low on the ingredients list because a small amount packs a ton of sweetness (which is why they’re low calorie. E.g. sucralose is 1000 times sweeter than sugar in the same amount). To the point - low-calorie sweeteners do not help with weight loss, and do not have any added health benefits. [1] Mere sweetness has a profound effect on body functions. I’m not sure whether DouxMatok would be classified as a low-calorie sweetener, since it just extends the sweetness of real sugar. However, it definitely creates the same problem - it emulates the sweet taste of sugar when there is none (or less). There is no shortcuts, no magic pill for health. Eat a balanced diet, with fruits and vegetables, and moderate consumption of sweets. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6313893/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6313893/
- byproxy 7y agoDid you read the conclusion of that article you linked? >Most health outcomes did not seem to have differences between the NSS exposed and unexposed groups. Of the few studies identified for each outcome, most had few participants, were of short duration, and their methodological and reporting quality was limited; therefore, confidence in the reported results is limited. Future studies should assess the effects of NSSs with an appropriate intervention duration.
- samatman 7y agoSucralose is emphatically not natural. It's sucrose with the hydroxylmethyl groups replaced with chlorine. The most common natural sweeteners are steviasides, extracted from the stevia plant, and sugar alcohols such as xylitol, which occur naturally in foods but are normally synthesized (thus 'natural equivalent' rather than 'natural'). Recently mogrosides extracted from monkfruit are becoming popular, though I haven't tried them myself. I despise sucralose, for what it's worth. I find the flavor cloying and, though this could be nocebo effect, I don't enjoy my body's response to it either.
- pg_bot 7y agoThe FDA should re-evaluate their opinion on sodium cyclamate. The ban is highly dubious as the study that lead to its ban was funded by the sugar lobby and 130 other countries have deemed it safe for human consumption. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_cyclamate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_cyclamate
- jfengel 7y agoI tried cyclamate in Europe, and I thought it was disgusting. I don't do diet sodas, but my mother remembered cyclamate very fondly from before the US ban. So when offered, I tried it, and had to put it in the context that the alternative my mother had was saccharin, which is even worse. I don't doubt that cyclamate got railroaded by the sugar lobby and is probably perfectly safe, but from my very limited experience I think the newer alternatives are probably better. (I've tried Diet Coke recently, and if I weren't paying attention I might not notice the difference.)
- Fej 7y agoIs it true that there is a genetic disposition to altered taste of low-calorie sweeteners? If it's real, I have it - most of them taste terrible to me, and leave an unpleasant aftertaste on top of that.
- kaolti 7y agoThere is no such thing as a free lunch.
- mrspuratic 7y agoSome of these things are a free lunch for your gut microbiome. Then there's a party in your ass, but you're not invited.
- holri 7y agoBetter way would be to engineer yourself to not need sweet taste. This works remarkable well, with some discipline.
- stronglikedan 7y agoConsidering most people won't do that, this may be the better way.
- giantg2 7y agoI have these insects that engineer a healthier sugar. It's called honey. Due to the different balance of sugars in it you can use less of it than regular sugar and still have it taste just as sweet. It also contains potentially beneficial enzymes, pollen, antioxidants, and minerals. There are a variety of flavors, including some very light ones that would not impart much flavor, similar to sugar. The only downside can be can be cost.
- marton78 7y agoAs far as I know honey consists of mostly equal amounts of glucose and fructose and thus has a similar nutritional value as HFCS, barring the minerals maybe.
- mywittyname 7y agoWikipedia suggests that honey is 55-65% fructose / 35-45% glucose, which is a slightly higher ratio than HFCS.
- giantg2 7y agoMinerals, antioxidants, pollen, and enzymes are the potentially beneficial parts of honey. I'm not sure about HFCS, but compared to regular table sugar you can use less to achieve the same sweetness.
- MisterTea 7y ago> The only downside can be can be cost. And we're killing them off with pesticides.
- giantg2 7y agoThe pesticides are not related to honey production but rather to modern farming and consumer practices. So it's not really a downside to consuming honey, but it would be a downside to consuming non-organic (and treated organic) produce, and spraying lawns.
- throwawaymanbot 7y agoSounds like "clean Coal technology" to me! No Thanks.
- MisterTea 7y agoSugar. It's so addictive that we're trying to figure out a way to engineer healthier versions. There's truth behind the phrase "sweet tooth". I indulged in a lot of cookies, cakes and sweet and savory foods. My peak weight was 103kg/230lbs and my height is 178cm or 5'10". I decided to make a big shift in my eating habits few years back and cut out any foods with added sugar. It was not easy in the sense that sugar really is addictive. I found myself buying a lot of fruit to curtail the cravings. Felt like rehab. It took me almost two years to fully discipline myself and lose weight. Though every now and then I still splurge because I feel like I must in order to keep the cravings at bay. My all time favorite is a baskin robbins peanut butter and chocolate malted. Even talking about it is making my mouth water. What a delicious dilemma sugar presents us humans.
- stronglikedan 7y agoFormer Baskin-Robinns Pralines & Cream addict checking in. I know they say all sugar is the same, but I noticed a marked decrease in the addictive feelings when I switched to unrefined sugar sources, such as fruit and honey.
- vezycash 7y agoI don't know about honey but for fruits, the theory is raw versus processed. Raw means lots of fibre which acts as a natural limiter. More like coca leaves vs. cocaine. A teaspoon of granulated sugar is the equivalent of a stick or more of sugar cane. Everyone can eat 10 spoons of sugar daily no sweat. Eat a stick of sugar cane and you won't do it any time soon.
- ptah 7y ago> His team also started out by giving them to potential clients, only to routinely hear it didn’t work. “Rarely is our ingredient properly used,” it sounds like it needs some other ingredients. possibly it makes starch break down to sugar quicker? like what saliva does to starch?