Traditional sugar is notorious for being one of the unhealthiest beverages available. The reason is because of the huge amount of sugar and numerous chemicals. It is pretty common knowledge that too much sugar can lead to all sorts of health issues ranging from obesity and diabetes to cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.
The impact of sugar is not immediate or acute and typically takes its toll over many years. While most people are fine with a moderate amount of sugar, the problem is that so many food products contain sugar, it's hard to avoid. The American Heart Association recommends limiting sugar intake to 24 grams for women and 36 grams for men. A single 12oz can of Coke contains 39 grams!
So removing sugar is one solution but artificial substitutes that are chemically derives such as aspartame and sucralose introduce new types of health concerns. Numerous studies show these ingredients actually contribute to insulin resistance over time which leads to obesity and glucose insensitivity. In addition, more recent studies also indicate that these foreign chemical sweeteners alter your gut microbiome which causes further health issues.
So if excessive sugar is bad and chemically derived artificial sweeteners are bad, is there anything available that is actually healthy?
There are a few natural alternative sweeteners that are zero glycemic (don't spike or alter your blood sugar) including allulose, monk fruit and stevia. These can be great alternatives that can help satisfy your craving for a soda. Not only are these natural options for providing sweetness but these ingredients also offer health benefits.
ALLULOSE BENEFITS
- Prebiotic: Helps improve your overall gut microbiome
- Allulose may reduce visceral fat
- Blood Sugar Management: increases insulin sensitivity and helps lower blood sugar levels. Another study showed a reduction of up to 30 mg/dl after a carbohydrate load with allulose. Ingested by itself, allulose does not raise blood sugar levels at all.
- Allulose reduces inflammation—such as IL-6 and TNF-alpha.
MONK FRUIT BENEFITS
- Monk fruit is an antioxidant and has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties.
- Studies indicate that monk fruit may have antibiotic properties.
- In an early study on mice, Monk Fruit is even showing abilities to prohibit colorectal cancer and throat cancer.
The combined benefits of antioxidant, anti-inflammation and prebiotic benefits of allulose and monk fruit have evidence to indicate positive benefits beyond just a substitute for sugar. By using a natural sweetener as a substitute, it also means that you are NOT ingesting sugar and more likely to keep your total sugar intake to a more moderate level.
This is what we set out to do at AlluSoda. Our mission is actually really simple... to create a better tasting zero sugar soda with uncompromising ingredients.