What is allulose, this calorie-free “natural sugar”?

• Authorized in the United States, Japan and Mexico, allulose is a new sweetener.

• Naturally present in certain fruits, it has a taste similar to white sugar.

• But for the time being, for lack of sufficient hindsight on its effects, the European regulator has not yet authorized it.

The great taste of sugar, but without the guilt and calories, is the marketing promise of sweeteners.

And on the “fake sugar” market, a newcomer has recently landed on the shelves: allulose, authorized in particular in the United States.

Naturally present in certain fruits, could allulose dethrone aspartame and stevia?

What are its properties?

Is it safe and will it soon be available in French supermarkets?

A "typical sugar" taste, without the calories

On paper, allulose has a few tricks up its sleeve.

Unlike the much criticized aspartame, a synthetic sweetener, allulose is a natural product, present in several plants including figs, grapes, kiwis and wheat.

Chemically, allulose is similar to “fructose, which is a sugar naturally present in fruits or honey”, indicates Raphaël Gruman, nutritionist and co-author of

(ed. Leduc)

And what might make it the favorite sweetener for sweet tooths is its taste.

While stevia divides because of its licorice taste, allulose would taste close to "real" sugar, according to a study published in June in the journal

conducted by a team from the University of Göttingen, jointly with the Copenhagen Business School.

“The results reveal that taste is the most important attribute for sweeteners.

And since allulose has a typical sugary taste, the likelihood that consumers will like it is high,” the authors believe.

A taste similar to sugar, but without the calories: with only 0.4 kcal per 1 gram, i.e. ten times less than traditional white sugar, allulose also has the advantage of avoiding spikes in blood sugar, which could making it a good alternative for people with diabetes.

The appeal of sugar fueled by sweeteners

The problem with stevia - which could also be that of allulose - is that if, "basically, it is a natural product from a plant, it undergoes a lot of chemical transformations, which makes a product ultimately more so natural, underlines Raphaël Gruman.

Stevia starts out as a leaf, but when you buy it from the supermarket as a white powder similar to granulated sugar, it has had to go through a number of steps, with the addition of additives, which make the product of origin – natural – becomes transformed.

This is why I do not recommend it to my patients,” adds the nutritionist.

Another problem posed by the consumption of sweeteners: "we don't educate patients to taste a little sweet," continues the nutritionist.

However, when the objective is to reduce the craving for sugar, sweeteners do not make it possible to disaccustom the brain and the taste buds to the appeal of sugar, on the contrary they maintain the desire for foods with a sweet taste, stimulate appetite, with a greater risk of overweight".

If you want to stop using sugar, "you have to wean yourself off of it, like tobacco, by eliminating sugar and products with a sweet taste", prescribes Raphaël Gruman.

Allulose not yet authorized in France

So, should we keep this new sugar out of our cups of coffee?

While excessive consumption of sweeteners increases the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease, is allulose devoid of potentially harmful effects on health?

For the time being, it is marketed in only a few countries: Mexico, Japan, South Korea or the United States, where the Food and drug administration (FDA) has recognized it as a "generally safe" sweetener.

In parallel, a study conducted by South Korean researchers, published at the end of 2018 in the journal

, attempted to determine the maximum single dose not to be exceeded in order not to suffer deleterious effects.

Studies carried out on healthy young adults have shown that no cases of severe gastrointestinal symptoms have been reported for an intake of 0.1 g per kg, or for example 5 g for a person weighing 50 kg.

But in the event of excessive consumption (greater than 0.5 g/kg), cases of severe diarrhoea, even distention and abdominal pain, nausea and headaches were observed.

Submitted to EFSA, the European food safety authority, allulose has been classified as a "novel food", but has not yet received marketing authorization on the continent, for lack of hindsight on its harmlessness.

Health

Consumption of sweeteners increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a study

Health

Excess consumption of sweeteners may increase cancer risk, study finds

• Health

• Nutrition

• Sugar

• Feed

• Agrifood