Allulose is a rarer form of sugar that was first identified in wheat leaves in the 1940s. Since then it has been rarely used and under-researched.
That was until the 1990s, when Ken Izumori, a professor at the Faculty of Agriculture at Kagawa University, Japan, came along. Izumori discovered a microorganism in the soil of the university that converts fructose into allulose with the help of an enzyme.
It took another 20 to 30 years of research, but allulose is now slowly gaining popularity as a sweetener, or alternative to sugar, in the US and South Korea, where it has been approved for commercial use.
Allulose (also known as D-allulose and D-psicose) is still described as rare because it occurs only in small amounts in figs, raisins, kiwis, wheat, maple syrup and molasses.
It is said to be about 70% as sweet as conventional sugar (sucrose), but contains only 10% of the calories. It could even be advertised as calorie-free, good for weight management or beneficial for people with type 2 diabetes.
Are the claims supported by scientific evidence? We take a look.
Is allulose a low-calorie sweetener?
The US regulatory agency Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of allulose in foods as ‘generally recognized as safe’.
But the European Union, Canada and other countries consider allulose a novel food that has yet to be adequately assessed for its safety.
That is why scientists are still assessing the effects of allulose on our body.
Recent studies show that the body absorbs allulose but does not metabolize it, meaning it could very well be glucose and calorie free.
In other words, the body does not recognize that allulose contains energy in the form of calories and is therefore “tricked” into excreting most of the calories.
This can make allulose useful for people who want to lose weight but still enjoy a sweet treat every now and then. It’s the same reason why allulose could also be useful for people on a ketogenic diet: a diet with as few carbohydrates as possible (sugar is a carbohydrate).
There is also evidence that allulose does not cause tooth decay, as sugar does.
Sweeteners instead of sugar?
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Glycemic index: how does allulose compare to sugar?
There are also claims that allulose does not increase blood sugar levels.
The glycemic index (GI) ranks foods based on how quickly they are digested and raise blood sugar levels.
Pure sugar increases blood sugar levels by 65 on a scale of 0 to 100.
White bread has a GI of 100; white bread takes a long time to digest and greatly increases blood sugar levels.
However, there is some evidence that allulose does not raise blood sugar levels at all.
Is allulose good for people at risk for type 2 diabetes?
Because allulose appears to have little or no impact on blood glucose, it could be an ideal sugar alternative for people with or at risk for type 2 diabetes.
Research has shown that even high doses of allulose did not cause glucose levels to fluctuate in people with diabetes or in healthy people.
Some studies have shown that eating allulose reduces glucose and insulin levels in people after meals, and also reduces the amount of glucose and insulin fluctuations in the blood.
This may be good news for people with diabetes, who have a less effective insulin system and cannot regulate blood sugar levels effectively.
However, more evidence is needed from larger clinical trials that support the claim that allulose is beneficial for people with diabetes.
The hidden dangers of sugar
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Does natural always mean healthy?
Allulose does not have a strong aftertaste, which means it is a useful sweetener for commercial foods such as chocolate.
“We have reduced the calories (in our chocolate) by up to 40% by replacing sugar with something that is virtually calorie-free,” says Michelle Oten, founder of GOALZ, a company that uses only allulose to sweeten their products.
Oten said they wanted “something that can be found in nature, and not made in a lab by playing with molecules.” But allulose’s label that it is natural and healthy can be misleading.
For example, there is some evidence that consuming large amounts of allulose can cause stomach pain, diarrhea, bloating, or gas.
Table sugar is natural, just like allulose. It comes from sugar beet or sugar cane plants. It is even possible to make allulose from fructose (fruit sugar) by changing its chemical form with enzymes.
The list of health problems resulting from eating sugar is long. To name a few: diabetes, heart disease, depression, tooth decay, bad skin, cancer. Natural is not always healthy.
What about allulose as an alternative to sugar? Many regulators say it is not harmful to eat, especially compared to sugar. But more studies are needed to know whether allulose has a beneficial effect on health.
This article was written by Lilia Breytenbach during an internship at DW’s science department, with support from Zulfikar Abbany and Fred Schwaller.
Sources:
Effects of D-allulose on glucose tolerance and insulin response to a standard oral sucrose load: results from a prospective, randomized, crossover study, published by Franchi, F., et al. in the journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care (2021)
Allulose in human Diet: The Knows and The Unknowns, published by Daniel H., Hauner H., Hornef M., Clavel T. in the British Journal of Nutrition (2022). doi: 10.1017/S0007114521003172.