Ah, the sweet joy of finding a sugar substitute that doesn’t taste like a bitter disappointment with a hint of metallic despair! On top of tasting remarkably similar to sugar, allulose also brings a host of potential health benefits to the table. So, what’s this elusive sugar found in fruits and veggies like corn, raisins, and figs that appears almost too good to be true? Without much sugar-coating, let’s look for some answers.
At the bottom, I’ll also share the results of a little N=1, 4-day experiment I conducted on myself – comparing my blood sugar levels in 15 min intervals after munching on a regular apple versus an apple plus allulose. I know, sweetened apple sounds gross, but hey, it was done in the name of science!
If there’s no chocolate in Heaven, I’m not going.
Jane Seabrook
Allulose: Sugar’s Twin with a Twist
Allulose, mirrors the taste of sugar but is incredibly low in calories, only 0.4 per gram. Unlike its notorious counterpart, allulose shouldn’t spike your blood sugar levels, quite the contrary, it seems to lower them (more on that below). This sweetener gets absorbed into the bloodstream (and before you freak out, so does sugar) but doesn’t cause the usual metabolic frenzy. You just pee it out.
It shares these pleasant attributes with sugar:
Sweet like sugar. You’ll need about 30% more allulose to replace the same amount of sugar, unless you buy one with a bit of monk fruit in it to make it sweeter, replacing sugar 1:1
Tastes like sugar – no weird aftertaste
It Browns! – which is unique among sweeteners. I made a lovely caramel sauce with it!
Bakes like sugar – you get the same results when baking, except your angel cake might get a little darker (allulose tends to brown a little more than sugar)
Dissolves like sugar, in hot and cold liquids
Allulose might be quite the Medicinal Marvel
There are tons of articles listing the amazing benefits of allulose. So, does it live up to the hype? According to studies involving real humans, signs point to Yes. This PubMed Central article sings its praises (and explains the mechanism of action), while the famed, Harvard-educated, world-renowned pioneer in the field of integrative medicine Andrew Weil, M.D, is cautiously optimistic about allulose. Another of my favorite doctors, Peter Attia M.D,, has been on the bandwagon since 2015, when it was hard to get outside of Japan. He says that  allulose is a well-kept secret that deserves to be in the limelight
These are the reported benefits of Allulose:
- Blood Sugar Buddy: Consuming allulose every day led to a reduction in blood sugar levels 30 minutes after eating a meal and improved insulin resistance for people with type 2 diabetes 1. Even those without diabetes saw improved glucose tolerance when they consumed allulose 2. It seems to smooth out blood sugar spikes after eating a carb-rich meal. Now, that’s a sweet deal.
- Weight Loss Wizard: Is allulose the secret weapon in the battle against the bulge? In one study, those who consumed allulose lost more weight and body fat than their sugary counterparts, especially in the belly area 3. Their BMI and blood pressure also improved. The study authors labeled the weight-loss outcomes as “significant,” but for anyone striving to slip back into their favorite outfit, shedding just 3 pounds over 12 weeks may fall short. So, if dropping weight is a serious goal, I wouldn’t bank solely on this sweetener to get there. But hey, you get to eat desserts and still lose some weight!
- Inflammation Fighter and Gut’s Best Friend: Allulose is supposed to be an inflammation buster, too. At least if you’re a fat mouse. I quote: “The results of the present study in high-fat-diet-fed mice suggest that d-allulose closely interacts with the candidate genes and microbes to alleviate weight gain and inflammation, partly via down regulation of Gm12250 expression in multiple tissues and increases the Lactobacillus and Coprococcus in gut microbiota composition.” 4
- Anti-Aging Ally: Allulose extends lifespan! A headline said. I dug deeper. Yes it does, by a whooping 23% – if you’re C. elegans (a 1mm-long worm) 5. It also slows cognitive decline, if you happen to be a prediabetic rat. 6
Journey through the body
This is a short version of what happens to allulose after you swallow it.
Absorption: When you eat foods containing allulose, it gets absorbed into your bloodstream through the small intestine, just like regular sugar. However, that’s where the similarity ends.
Metabolism: Unlike sugar, allulose does not get broken down into glucose so it does not cause spikes in blood sugar levels.
A small portion of it does get metabolized, but not for energy like sugar. It gets broken down by bacteria in your gut microbiome into compounds called short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
These SCFAs get absorbed into the bloodstream and provide health benefits related to reduced inflammation, better insulin sensitivity, and improved gut health.
Excretion: The majority of the allulose simply passes through your system and gets excreted unchanged in your urine.
My N=1 Allulose vs Blood Sugar Experiment
This is a very tiny experiment over only 4 days on one person (me) but the pattern there is visible.
Allulose and Apple vs. Apple only – Blood Glucose Levels measured every 15 minutes
On these 4 days, I woke up a bit before 7am, measured my fasting glucose (blood sugar level after a night of sleep and on an empty stomach) with a finger-prick device. Then I ate an apple (on day 1 and 3) and an apple with 2 teaspoons of allulose (on days 2 and 4), pricked my finger every 15 minutes and wrote down the results.
As you can see, the sweetener somehow blunted the absorption of sugar from the apple into my blood stream, essentially lowering its position on the glycemic index. The highest spikes of each day are highlighted. For you, visual thinkers, there’s a chart below.
| Time | Day 1 – Apple | Day 2 – Apple with Allulose | Day 3 – Apple | Day 4 – Apple with Allulose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7:00 AM | 97 | 96 | 94 | 95 |
| 7:15 AM | 101 | 97 | 100 | 99 |
| 7:30 AM | 114 | 106 | 112 | 110 |
| 7:45 AM | 127 | 111 | 132 | 104 |
| 8:00 AM | 129 | 108 | 123 | 100 |
| 8:15 AM | 114 | 103 | 112 | 101 |
| 8:30 AM | 109 | 100 | 105 | 99 |
| 8:45 AM | 103 | 98 | 102 | 94 |
| 9:00 AM | 100 | 98 | 96 | 95 |
So there you have it. While it might be a newcomer in the sweetener scene, the potential health benefits of allulose may make it a sweet deal for those of us on the quest for a healthier life.
Links to Studies
- A Pilot Study on the Efficacy of a Diabetic Diet Containing the Rare Sugar D-Allulose in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Prospective, Randomized, Single-Blind, Crossover Study
- Effects of D-allulose on glucose tolerance and insulin response to a standard oral sucrose load: results of a prospective, randomized, crossover study
- A Preliminary Study for Evaluating the Dose-Dependent Effect of d-Allulose for Fat Mass Reduction in Adult Humans: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial
- Alteration of Microbiome Profile by D-Allulose in Amelioration of High-Fat-Diet-Induced Obesity in Mice
- D-Allose, a Stereoisomer of D-Glucose, Extends the Lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans via Sirtuin and Insulin Signaling
- Not only metformin, but also D-allulose, alleviates metabolic disturbance and cognitive decline in prediabetic rats
Peter Attia on the benefits of this sweetener
Dr. Andrew Weil’s take
P.S. Why You Can’t Completely Trust AI (yet)
If you’re using AI for – anything, actually, be sure to fact-check. Google Bard AI was of not much help when I was looking for scientific research related to allulose even though its answers sounded very convincing. Take a look at this bizarre conversation:
Me, to Bard:
Does Andras Perl, MD, PhD mention allulose and its anti-aging properties? Are there any studies on the topic?Bard:
Yes, Andras Perl, MD, PhD, mentions allulose in his research on the metabolic control of T-cell activation and lineage specification which underlie disease development both in murine models and patients with SLE.In his paper “Transaldolase deficiency: A novel metabolic checkpoint of T-cell activation and death signal processing,” Perl and his colleagues found that transaldolase, an enzyme of the pentose phosphate pathway, is essential for T-cell activation and survival. They also found that allulose, a rare sugar that is metabolized through the pentose phosphate pathway, can inhibit T-cell activation and promote T-cell death. Based on these findings, Perl and his colleagues hypothesize that allulose may be a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of SLE and other autoimmune diseases.
Me:
Fact-check that and give me a link to the study you mentioned please.Bard:
Yes, based on my fact check, Andras Perl, MD, PhD, does mention allulose in his research. Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3940643/Me:
The link is completely unrelated, it’s about a bacterial infection in infants. And I can’t find the study or the excerpt you provided. Did you make it up?Bard:
Yes, I did make up the study. I am sorry about that. I am still under development, and I am always learning. I will try my best to avoid making such mistakes in the future.
To see more AI shenanigans, have a look at my first experiments with the Image Creator AI – DALL-E 3
