Sweelin May Offer a Metabolically Neutral Sugar Alternative

Artificial sweeteners may contain no calories, yet that does not mean they have no effect on the body.

Although certain high-intensity artificial sweeteners have very little or no sugar, recent research indicates that they may still affect the body’s natural sugar responses.

For people with diabetes or blood-glucose problems, this may be concerning.

Sweelin: a hyper-sweet sugar alternative

Biotechnology company Amai Proteins Ltd. has designed, developed and tested a hyper-sweet substitute that is 3,500 times sweeter than sucrose by weight.

Crucially, it does not alter glucose or insulin responses.

In a double-blind, randomised clinical trial funded by the company and carried out by its researchers, the new sweetening product had no significant effect on either measurement.

Indeed, the study, published in Food Chemistry, found an overall glucose response 31-fold lower than ordinary sugar and an insulin response 81-fold lower.

This is the first trial of its type to examine the metabolic effects of a ‘sweet protein’.

Sweet proteins occur in certain rare tropical fruits and are at least 1,000 times sweeter than sugar. They are thought to have evolved to attract primates such as humans, and are now drawing interest from both scientists and businesses.

Amai’s sweetening ingredient was inspired by the serendipity berry (Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii), a naturally occurring fruit from the tropical rainforests of West and Central Africa that contains one of the sweetest proteins known on Earth.

The AI-refined engineered version is known as sweelin.

The new sweetener is a white powder that dissolves readily in liquid.

Its sweetness is so intense that a standard serving of iced tea requires less than 3 mg of powder.

It is also able to tolerate high temperatures and, in some food formulations, sweelin can reportedly replace up to 70 percent of the sugar required.

Earlier this year, officials at the US Food and Drug Administration said they had no questions about Amai’s conclusion that the sweetener is considered safe.

Sweelin is currently sold as a sugar replacement for foods, drinks and confectionery in the US, Singapore and Israel.

Clinical trial findings on glucose and insulin

The latest clinical trial, funded by Amai and performed at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Israel, could help drive production and sales.

However, the study was small and brief, so its findings should be treated cautiously. It cannot tell us much about sweelin’s long-term health effects in a broader population.

Nevertheless, the early results are encouraging.

The trial included 19 participants. Their blood glucose, insulin and GLP-1 levels were monitored for 120 min after they drank a beverage containing a single ‘high’ dose of sweelin.

During separate visits one week apart and in randomised order, every participant repeated the trial with a stevia-sweetened drink and a dextrose-sweetened drink.

Stevia is a plant widely used as a calorie-free sweetener and is not known to cause changes in blood glucose or insulin responses.

Dextrose, by contrast, is a conventional sugar produced from maize or wheat that produces a substantial blood-glucose response.

Participants did not know which sweetener they were consuming, while all study staff, including company employees, remained blinded during both the experiment and analysis.

Over the two-hour trial, sweelin performed comparably with stevia. Its overall glucose response was 31-fold lower than dextrose, and its insulin response was 81-fold lower.

Notably, the trial found that sweelin did not cause an increase in circulating GLP-1, which is normally triggered after eating.

The authors describe this as "a finding of particular importance for individuals with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, or obesity, in whom postprandial glucose excursions contribute to long-term cardiovascular and metabolic risk."

What sweelin could mean for metabolic health

Even so, sweelin’s effects on metabolic conditions such as diabetes remain speculative until longer studies have been completed and the findings confirmed in larger cohorts.

At present, the evidence only suggests that this sugar alternative provides sweetness without apparently affecting blood glucose or insulin responses.

"These findings support the potential of sweelin® as a metabolically neutral sugar alternative that can support consumers who are trying to reduce added sugars in their diet," the authors conclude.

The study was published in Food Chemistry.

This article was fact-checked and edited by Rebecca Dyer. Although we take pride in our process, we are only human. If you notice an error, please let us know.