Scientists have developed a sugar substitute that will make sweets healthy

You should know that sugar is injurious to healthall. Because of it, people often gain weight, and also increase the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, and so on. To protect themselves from these problems, some people try to completely give up sugary foods, but this is often very difficult. In this case, products with artificial sweeteners like saccharin and fructose help - they are just as sweet, but have several drawbacks. Recently, scientists have been able to create a new sugar substitute, which is not only devoid of cons, but can also benefit the human body. Let's find out what it consists of, what benefits it can bring and when it will be included in the sweets sold in stores.

Thanks to a new sugar substitute, sweets could become healthy foods in the future

Why are sugar substitutes considered bad?

Sugar substitutes are good because they allowenjoy sweets without the risk of gaining weight - they contain much fewer calories than natural sugar. They are considered safe for human health, but some studies suggest otherwise. For example, in 2017, Australian scientists concluded that sweeteners increase the feeling of hunger and people eat more often, which can lead to obesity and health problems.

Sugar substitutes increase appetite, so they can not help you lose weight

Also in 2014, scientists learned thatartificial sweeteners can disrupt metabolism. This is because saccharin and other compounds cause an imbalance in the gut microbiome. This is very disturbing news, because the bacteria living inside us affect a lot of things, even the functioning of the brain.

The human gut and brain are closely related.

In the same year, scientists found that somesweeteners are strong insecticides - substances that kill insects. At the very least, erythritol, which is part of them, is deadly to fruit flies. It is possible that this substance can also harm humans, but there is no evidence for this, and the researchers hope that sweeteners can be used as a pest poison that is safe for humans.

Sugar substitutes are deadly for fruit flies

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The safest sugar substitutes

As you can understand, the situation around substitutessugar is ambiguous. Sweets companies actively use them in their products and people buy them because they think they are safe. At the same time, some scientists tend to suggest that sweeteners can be just as dangerous to health as natural sugar. Therefore, scientists are still looking for a safer substitute.

There are many sweeteners, but each of them has disadvantages.

At the moment a good candidate for the titlesafe sweeteners are galactooligosaccharides. So called low-calorie sugars, which are found in the milk of mammals, as well as bananas and chicory. They have one very important property - they have prebiotic activity, that is, they have a good effect on the intestinal microbiome. But at the same time, there is a minus - they are not as sweet as real sugar.

Galactooligosaccharides are found in large quantities in the milk of mammals.

Scientists also liked mogrosides, whichcontained in Luo Han Guo plants growing in China. They are 200-300 times sweeter than natural sugar, but there is a minus - the plant extract has an unpleasant odor. But experts can eliminate it during processing.

Fruit Luo Han Guo

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New sugar substitute

Recently, scientists decided to take fromgalactooligosaccharides and mogrosides all the best and develop a new sugar substitute. They succeeded - the new substance is very sweet like mogrosides and has prebiotic activity, like galactooligosaccharides.

At the moment, there is no new sweetenernames, but its beneficial properties have been proven in laboratory studies. So, scientists have found that a new chemical compound increases the number of intestinal bacteria Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus. The first are the well-known bifidobacteria, which protect people from the penetration of microbes and toxins into the internal environment of the body. The second are lactobacilli, which convert lactose and other carbohydrates into lactic acid.

New sweetener good for gut health

According to scientists, they received very goodresults. In the future, they want to further study the effect of a new sugar substitute on the human digestive system. Based on this, it follows that at the moment it is not yet suitable for adding to existing sweets - it is very important for specialists to make sure that the compound does not have harmful properties. After that, it will be necessary to obtain permits and only then a new sweetener can be in food. This may take several years, so you should not expect a new composition of sweets in the near future.

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If you want to know how sugar is made and whether it can be deficient, read this material.