Allulose

Low Calorie Sugar

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Brain Activity & Connectivity Changes: Response to Natural Sugar Replacements & Artificial Sweeteners – Nutritional Neuroscience

September 12, 2019 by Stan Samples

ARTICLE: Brain activity and connectivity changes in response to nutritive natural sugars, non-nutritive natural sugar replacements and artificial sweeteners

AUTHORS:  van Opstal AM, Hafkemeijer A, van den Berg-Huysmans, Hoeksma M, Mulder TP, Pijl H, Rombouts SARB, van der Grond J

SOURCE: Nutritional Neuroscience, Published online July 2019 https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415X.2019.1639306

SUMMARY BY:  Robyn Flipse, MS, MA, RDN

INTRODUCTION

Maintaining energy balance involves many parts of the brain that regulate the homeostatic processes related to food ingestion and the hedonic responses that signal satiety and control feeding behavior. An understanding of how different sweeteners might affect these brain functions and sweet taste cravings is of critical importance given the rising consumption of sugars and non-nutritive sweeteners over the past fifty years and the tandem increase in the incidence of obesity.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of different nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners on whole brain neuronal activity and network connectivity when the sweeteners were ingested in shakes containing protein and fat. The hypothesis was that the nutritive, naturally-occurring sugars would elicit a response from the brain not seen after consuming the non-nutritive sweeteners due to their lack of caloric content.

BACKGROUND

The brain responds readily to the ingestion of glucose because of its quick absorption, with the glucose sensing neurons in the hypothalamus showing a homeostatic satiety response almost immediately after ingestion. Glucose ingestion also has effects on neuronal activity and functional connectivity throughout the brain areas involved in reward and feeding behavior, while circulating blood glucose levels influence the central nervous system regulation of glucose homeostasis.

Other mono- and disaccharides and low or non-nutritive sweeteners follow different metabolic pathways upon ingestion and have different effects on energy intake and regulation. Earlier findings reported by these researchers indicate that the homeostatic and hedonic responses, as measured by BOLD signal changes in the hypothalamus and ventral tegmental area (VTA), are driven by sweet taste coupled with caloric content. They also found sweet taste without caloric content, as found in non-nutritive sweeteners, did not seem to elicit a lasting response from these brain areas.

Based on these findings, this study used measurements of local BOLD changes of neuronal activity to analyze the immediate effects of nutrient ingestion on very specific areas of the brain and various functional networks involved in feeding behavior and energy balance. The networks they focused on were the default mode reflecting a baseline state of the brain that has been shown to be altered in obesity, the salience network involved in feeding behavior and reward, and the executive control network involved in decision making and impulse control.

Another method used to determine functional brain connectivity was the eigenvector centrality mapping (ECM). It can determine the level and quality of connectivity on a voxel-wise level rather than on a network level and has been shown to be correlated with states of hunger and satiety.

STUDY DESIGN

Subjects were recruited through local advertising and included 20 non-smoking Caucasian men, aged 18-25 years. All had a BMI between 20-23 kg/m2 with no recent weight changes, height between 170-190cm and weight above 70kg. Exclusion criteria included no history of disturbances in glucose metabolism, significant chronic disease or psychiatric disease.

The entire study was performed in a double-blinded, 4-times crossover design. Subjects underwent a resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI) before and after ingesting each of the four different shakes offered in a randomized sequence, with a washout period of at least one week between the four study visits.  Subjective feelings of hunger, fullness, wanting a meal at baseline, and wanting to continue ingestion after first tasting and full ingestion of the shakes were indicated on a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) consisting of a 10cm line with “not at all” and “extremely” as the anchors.

The shakes were sweetened with either the natural sugars glucose or fructose, the low-nutritive but naturally-occurring sugar allulose, or the non-nutritive sweetener sucralose. All preparations were matched to glucose for sweetness and contained equal amounts of water, sodium caseinate (.33g protein), coconut oil (5g fat), guar, and cocoa powder for flavoring. The test dosage was 165ml and had the sweetness, consistency and macronutrients similar to that found in commercially available milkshakes from fast food chains.

RESULTS

Data from this study confirm previous findings that glucose is a critical signal regulating response to food cues. Brain activity was diminished after ingesting the glucose shakes in the regions that were actively seeking reward or energy when in a fasted state.  Additionally, a small decrease in voxel based connectivity was seen after glucose ingestion in the area containing the hypothalamus and VTA, which are involved in homeostatic and hedonic regulation of energy intake, and glucose was the only condition that led to a significant increase in connectivity in the salience network involved in feeding behavior, determining reward, emotional arousal and decision making.

Ingestion of the fructose sweetened shake had various effects on functional brain response, but the lack of a decrease in activity in the hypothalamus, VTA and other midbrain areas suggests fructose might not have a homeostatic and satiation effect which could affect feeding behavior. This may be due to the fact the effects of fructose on brain connectivity are delayed since it is metabolized in the liver. The low and non-nutritive sweeteners allulose and sucralose had little to no effect on the functional brain responses measured.

These findings indicate shakes with little energy from carbohydrates had no immediate effect on the activity of the brain areas involved in feeding behavior, even though the fat and protein in the shakes did deliver a significant amount of total energy. It further suggests that sweet taste without the presence of carbohydrates does not lead to the activity changes measured with fMRI often associated with satiety. This is consistent with other research that shows sweet taste without energy content does not lead to a lasting decrease in hypothalamic activity.

CONCLUSION

These findings show that even in mixed meals, different types of sweeteners can elicit different brain responses that might, in turn, affect feeding behavior. Nutritive sweeteners elicit a reaction from the brain that could have effects on feeding behavior and reward. Because non-nutritive sweeteners elicited little to no effect, they might not have effects on feeding behavior, neither positive nor negative. Therefore, with regard to regulating energy balance and feeding behavior, non-nutritive sweeteners could be used as neutral replacements for nutritive sugars.

Robyn Flipse, MS, MA, RDN is a registered dietitian, cultural anthropologist and scientific advisor to the Calorie Control Council, whose 30+ year career includes maintaining a busy nutrition counseling practice, teaching food and nutrition courses at the university level, and authoring 2 popular diet books and numerous articles and blogs on health and fitness. Her ability to make sense out of confusing and sometimes controversial nutrition news has made her a frequent guest on major media outlets, including CNBC, FOX News and USA Today. Her passion is communicating practical nutrition information that empowers people to make the best food decisions they can in their everyday diets.Reach her on Twitter @EverydayRD and check out her blog The Everyday RD.

Filed Under: Articles, Health Professionals

IFT19 showcases solutions for clean-label trends – Beverage Industry

August 22, 2019 by Stan Samples

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Expo highlighted the latest innovations impacting the food and beverage markets. Tate & Lyle offered a prototype of an almond milk coffee latte featuring Dolcia Prima allulose. The company expressed excitement of the recent FDA decision that when allulose is used in products, it can be excluded from the total and added sugars declaration on Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labels.

Read more

Filed Under: Health Professionals, News

Tate & Lyle talks allulose: The first two things consumers look for are calories and sugar – Food Navigator

July 25, 2019 by Stan Samples

Allulose has 90% fewer calories than table sugar and is now attracting the attention of mainstream consumer packaged goods brands, despite the premium price tag. Allulose counted towards grams of sugar on food labels, despite the fact it contributes virtually no calories and doesn’t raise blood sugar or insulin.

Read more

Filed Under: Health Professionals, News

Initial sales of low-carb cereal Magic Spoon have exceeded expectations – Food Navigator

July 25, 2019 by Stan Samples

Sales of new keto-friendly cereal Magic Spoon have exceeded expectations, say founders Gabi Lewis and Greg Sewitz, who claim to have sold “far more than we projected even in our most aggressive projections,” in the first three months.

Magic Spoon is sweetened with allulose, which founder Gabi Lewis notes “tastes great but has no impact on blood sugar.”

He adds: “We’re also finding that parents are emailing us that their kids love it, so at some point in the future if we decide that children are a more immediate target audience, we’ll probably develop a brand that’s more specifically targeted at children, and maybe even tweak the product to be more suited to children as well.”

Keep reading

Filed Under: Food Scientists, Health Professionals, News

FDA Exempts Allulose from Added Sugar Labeling Requirements

June 11, 2019 by Stan Samples

April 17, 2019 — For the first time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is allowing an ingredient  chemically classified as a “sugar” to not be labeled as part of the Total or Added Sugars listings on Nutrition Facts labels. In draft guidance published in April 2019, FDA announced that the low-calorie sweetener allulose does not need to be counted towards the amount of “Total Sugars” or “Added Sugars” on the new Nutrition Facts labels coming into effect January 2020 which require companies to separately list “Added Sugars” under the “Total Sugars” listed – among other changes.

Allulose is considered a “rare sugar” due to its presence in nature in very small quantities and its chemical makeup as a monosaccharide. While allulose provides the same sweet taste, texture, and other technical attributes as table sugar, it is not metabolized as energy in the body. Therefore, it provides a negligible amount of calories and does not impact blood glucose levels, thus qualifying allulose as a low-calorie sweetener. Although allulose was discovered in small amounts in nature and fruits such as figs, raisins, maple syrup and jackfruit, it can also be made from fructose as well as corn to support production scale. This is especially critical given the broad scope of applications – from sweetening baked goods while enhancing browning and crumb structure, to replacing sugar in ice cream but remaining stable in freezing conditions – and subsequent predicted demand for allulose.

The demonstrated benefits of allulose in tandem with FDA’s draft guidance on allulose labeling should help alleviate consumer confusion about the emerging sweetener and clear the runway for industry innovation. “As manufacturers considered reformulating or innovating new products in advance of the January 2020 compliance deadline for the new Nutrition Facts labels, there was confusion among industry and consumers over how to interpret the labels of products containing allulose,” remarked Robert Rankin, president of the Calorie Control Council. “Consumers looking to manage or reduce intake of Total and Added Sugars can now be assured that allulose does not count toward those listings.”

The FDA has made several major updates to the nutrition label, including changes to the nutrients that must be declared. Now, “Added Sugars” must be included separately as a subset of “Total Sugars”. According to the FDA, “Added Sugars” include “sugars that are either added during the processing of foods, or are packaged as such (e.g., a bag of table sugar), and also includes sugars from syrups and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices.” However, since allulose does not significantly impact glycemic responses, contributes far less than 4 kcal/g, and does not promote dental caries like other sugars might, FDA intends to exercise enforcement discretion with respect to the exclusion of Total Sugars and Added Sugars, including the % Daily Value (DV) declaration.

To learn more about the FDA guidance, read:

  • The Federal Register (FR) announcement of FDA’s new draft guidance
  • FDA’s Draft Guidance for Industry: The Declaration of Allulose and Calories from Allulose on Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels, which includes a link to download the guidance
  • FDA Allows Allulose to be Excluded from Total and Added Sugars, NOSH, May 1, 2019
  • Tate & Lyle: ‘The first two things consumers look for on the Nutrition Facts panel now are calories and sugar’, Food Navigator, May 13, 2019

To learn more about allulose, read these sections of Allulose.org:

  • What is Allulose? 
  • Why Choose Allulose?
  • Allulose Articles

Filed Under: Food Scientists, Health Professionals, News

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What is Allulose?

Allulose is a low calorie sugar with the same clean, sweet taste you expect from sugar. Soon you’ll be able to find it in a wide range of foods and beverages to support a healthy lifestyle. Allulose … Learn More

The Calorie Control Council, a non-profit association established in 1966, seeks to provide an objective channel of scientific-based communications about low-calorie foods and beverages, to assure that scientific and consumer research and information is made available to all interested parties.

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