Allulose: Is It Too Good to Be True? Let's Find Out
Allulose is popping up everywhere. It’s in Keto snacks and recipes, and it’s getting a lot of attention. One reason it’s getting so much attention is because it’s being marketed as a sweetener that won’t spike your blood sugar, and may even help to lower it.
Naturally, that raises a big question: is this actually legit or just another trend?
What is Allulose exactly?
Allulose is what’s called a “rare sugar.” It’s called that because it naturally shows up in small amounts in foods like figs and raisins, but that’s not what you’re seeing in the stores. Because allulose is limited in nature, a process is used to convert fructose into allulose for commercial use.
What makes allulose different is that even though it looks and tastes like sugar, your body doesn’t use it in the same way. Instead of being broken down for energy, most of it passes through your body and gets excreted.
Does it actually affect blood sugar?
This is where allulose is really standing out. Most current research is showing that allulose has little to no effect on blood sugar, and in some cases, can even help reduce blood sugar.
Sounds impressive, but it is worth noting that allulose isn’t lowering your blood sugar the way a medication would, it’s more like it doesn’t cause the spike in the first place.
Is it Keto-friendly?
The short answer is yes. Since it isn’t really metabolised and doesn’t affect blood sugar, it doesn’t interfere with ketosis. That’s why it’s becoming so popular in Keto snacks and recipes. It gives you that sugar-like taste and texture without the carb impact.
But keep in mind, just because something is keto-friendly doesn’t mean it should be unlimited. If you’re loading up on Keto snacks all day you can still run into cravings, overeating, and stalling your progress.
What about fasting?
We said that allulose does not affect blood sugar, but with fasting, we’re more concerned with insulin. Remember, insulin tells the body to store fat. That’s why we practice Intermittent and Extended Fasting, to lower insulin so that we can move out of fat storage and into fat burning mode.
The good news is that allulose does not technically cause significant insulin spikes. So you could potentially have a little in your coffee or tea during a fast. But keep in mind that for some people, even a sweet taste is enough to bump insulin.
It also depends on your goals with fasting. If you’re fasting for weight loss, a little probably isn’t going to hurt anything. But if you’re fasting for the autophagy benefits, you want to keep a clean fast, which means water, and coffee or tea with no sweeteners, not even allulose.
Are there any downsides?
For most people, allulose seems to be well tolerated.
In higher amounts, it can cause digestive issues, like bloating or diarrhea. That tends to be a common theme with sweeteners.
There’s also the fact that it’s still relatively new and, while it’s considered safe, we don’t have decades of long-term data yet.
But probably the biggest issue, especially for those of us with sugar addictions or trying to lose weight, is that it tastes so much like the real thing that it’s easy to start relying on it a little too much.
Conclusion
Allulose may be one of the better sweetener options out there currently. It doesn’t spike blood sugar, it works for Keto, and it won’t interfere with fasting for most people.
But it doesn’t lower blood sugar dramatically, and it shouldn’t be something you rely on to keep overindulging on sweet products. Like everything else, moderation is key.
