Do you ever hear of something that seems too good to be true turns out to be true? Like there
is a sugar substitute that tastes like sugar, behaves like sugar when used in baking, and
chemically speaking it is sugar but have virtually no calories and also does not raise blood
sugar level? How can that be possible? Let's find out, with people also ask.
Hi, I am Shao Chieh Lo, Welcome to what people also ask, where I search something seemingly obvious
and share with you some of its PAA, aka People Also Ask, which is a feature telling you what
other people are searching on Google that relates to your query. Today's keyword is Allulose.
We will talk about what is it, and some current researches about it. Usually,
I will use the article that Google algorithmically extracted to answer our PAA, but I believe
this episode's keyword is related to YMYL contents aka contents that would potentially
affect your decision on their health or money. So in this episode, I will also make
sure that all medical information mentioned has peer review researches to back it up too.
That being said, you should still consult your doctor before you make any change in
your diet, I am just a random person on the internet who knows how to Google. So let's
start with our first PAA: Is Allulose good for you? Google's auto-generated answer is
linked to an article titled "Is Allulose a Healthy Sweetener?" written by Franziska Spritzler
who is a registered dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator. This article
is published by Healthline, which is an American website providing health information headquartered
in San Francisco, CA. This website's articles are usually written by medical professionals
and are usually backed by peer-reviewed researches. They do, however, face some controversy concerning
the neutrality of some of their pieces in 2018 and 2019, I will include relevant articles
in the further reading. That being said, their articles are usually well-curated and informative
and can be a good starting point for information gathering before you talk to your doctor.
Just make sure you actually talk to your doctor before making any medical decision after reading their article
This article compiled a lot of peer-reviewed studies regarding
allulose from 2009 to 2015. And here are some summaries of this article: 1.Allulose is a
rare sugar with the same chemical formula as fructose. 2.It delivers few calories because
the majority of the allulose you consume will not be metabolized and will be eliminated
in the urine without being used as fuel according to research published in 2010 on Journal Metabolism.
3.Allulose has been shown in animal and human trials to lower blood sugar levels, improve
insulin sensitivity, and protect insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells. 4. Allulose may promote
fat burning, reduce the risk of fatty liver disease and help prevent obesity.
There is an especially interesting study in 2012 published in the Journal of food science.
In this study, obese rats were fed a high-fat diet with supplements of either allulose,
sucrose, or erythritol for eight weeks. Like allulose, erythritol provides virtually no
calories and does not raise blood sugar or insulin levels. Nevertheless, the rats given
allulose gained less belly fat than the rats fed erythritol or sucrose. This suggests allulose
might not only be a sugar substitute, it might actually help to prevent fat accumulation.
However, since most of those studies are based on animal models or small-scale human trials,
more high-quality human research is still needed. So here's the question: What is the catch?
It's just too good to be true, a real sugar, taste like sugar but with virtually
no calories, and at the same time might promote fat burning? Are you kidding me, it must have
some terrible hidden side effects, isn't it? right? Let's talk about our next PAA: How safe is Allulose?
Google's auto-generated answer is linked to an article titled "Is allulose a
healthful alternative to sugar?" published by MedicalNewsToday, which is a website actually
has been acquired by Healthline Media since 2016. According to this article, the FDA has
approved Allulose for use in humans and classified them as GRAS, aka generally recognized as
safe. And based on current studies we actually haven't found any serious side effects yet
other than some abdominal discomfort when consuming large quantities, and even this
side effect is not toxic and usually temporary. However, more high-quality research to
confirm the long-term safety of allulose is still needed. I don't know...Maybe one day we will discover
allulose' skeletons in the closet, but currently there is no evidence that allulose will cause
serious side effects when consuming moderately. So next question: Does Allulose bake like
sugar? Google's auto-generated answer is linked to an article comparing the differences between
erythritol and allulose in the baking process published by Sweet Logic, which is a US company
that specializes in low-carb bakery products. According to this article, erythritol is easy
to crystallize, and it does not caramelize the way real sugar does. And because erythritol
is a sugar alcohol, there will be a strange cooling sensation when you eat it. Allulose
does not have the above problem at all. But note that the sweetness of Allulose is only
70% of that of sucrose, so to achieve the same sweetness, more Allulose needs to be
added, and it may also increase the volume of the finished product. I searched for some
food science researches on the use of allulose as baking sugar and found some interesting studies.
A study published in the Journal of Food Processing and Preservation in 2020,
baked 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% allulose pound cakes, and a 100% sucrose pound cake as control group
, and found that as the proportion of allulose increases, the crumb of pound cake
caramelizes faster, but there is no significant difference in the texture of these five-pound cakes.
Another study published in the journal “LWT” in 2021 compared cupcakes made with
allulose and sucrose got similar results. Interestingly, this study also found that
allulose cakes lost water slower in the baking process than sucrose cakes, and it usually
takes a longer time to bake to achieve the same texture. But at the same time, allulose
cake is also easier to burn because it caramelizes faster. So for the bakers, managing the baking
temperature and time will be a challenge when using allulose as sugar, but if it is handled
well, the taste and texture of the finished product can be very similar to ordinary cakes.
Okay, let's recap. Today we learned that Allulose is a rare sugar with the same chemical formula
as fructose but it delivers few calories because the majority of the allulose you consume will
not be metabolized. Allulose might potentially help lowering blood sugar levels, improving
insulin sensitivity, and promoting fat burning. It's classified as generally recognized as safe
by FDA and we actually haven't found any serious side effects yet other than some abdominal discomfort.
However, more high-quality research to confirm the long-term safety of
allulose is still needed. Allulose behaves very similarly to regular sugar when used
in baking. However, it tends to caramelize faster and is more likely to burn. If you
made it to the end of the video, chances are that you enjoy learning what people also ask
on Google. But let's face it, reading PAA yourself will be a pain. So here's the deal,
I will do the reading for you and upload a video compiling some fun PAAs once a week,
all you have to do is to hit the subscribe button and the bell icon so you won't miss
any PAA report that I compile. So just do it right now. Bye!