If you have an insatiable sweet tooth, and are worried about calorie intake and your teeth, there is good news for you. A team of researchers from Tufts University have used bacteria to derive a sugar that has only 38 per cent of the calories of traditional table sugar. This sugar is called tagatose.
Tagatose is “generally regarded as safe.”
Tagatose is derived from fruits and dairy products. The FDA has approved it as a food additive. According to researchers, unlike many sugar substitutes, there have been no reports of metallic taste, or any link to cancer. FAO/WHO, certified the Tagatose as “generally regarded as safe.”
It is safe for diabetics and will also not result in cavities
Tagatose is 92 percent as sweet as our regular sugar, however our digestive system doesn’t metabolize as much of it. It only has 38 percent of the calories. Because of this, tagatose has very small effect on blood glucose and insulin…making it safe for diabetics. Moreover, it doesn’t contribute to cavities or tooth decay.
It’s a promising start, but still plenty of work is to be done to scale up the process to commercial levels.
