Low-cal sweetener that could also improve gut health?

A team of international researchers has discovered a low-calorie sweetener that is as sweet as table sugar and seems to be able to feed ‘good’ gut bacteria.

While sugar replacements are commonly used as a way to avoid calories, there are some downsides. For instance eating non-sugar sweeteners may actually increase appetite, and the body seems to be able to distinguish artificial sweeteners from real sugar on a molecular level, making the person feel less satisfied when eating it.

Other considerations are that sweeteners like galactooligosaccharides are not sweet enough to serve as sugar replacements despite their low-calorie nature, whereas others like mogrosides (found in monkfruit) are far sweeter than sugar but can give food an odd flavour.

The researchers, working from the Spanish National Research Council, the University of Reading and research centres in Argentina and England, looked for a compromise between these problems, searching for a low-energy substance that imparted appropriate levels of sweetness.

To do so, they started with lactose and mogroside V, and added β-galactosidase enzymes, resulting in a mixture that contained mostly galactooligosaccharides and a small amount of modified mogrosides.

A panel of sensory experts tasted this substance and found that it was about as sweet as table sugar; lab experiments discovered that it also increased beneficial gut bacteria such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus. The researchers noted a potential prebiotic effect, with an increase in acetate, propionate and butyrate, all of which drive a healthy growth environment in the gut.

Ongoing studies are planned to understand the impact of this sweetener on human gut health. The researchers think that it may be able to serve as a 1:1 replacement for sugar that actually could make the eater healthier.

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