A guilt-free chocolate bar, full of sugar, could someday land at a supermarket near you.
The chocolate would look and taste normal, and contain the same amount of sugar. But an enzyme, encased in an edible substance and added to the bar, would reduce how much sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream, and even turn it into a fiber that is good for your gut.
The product is the brainchild of scientists at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. In 2018, Kraft Heinz tapped the scientists to help develop a sugar substitute that would enable the food giant to cut the sweetener from its food without losing its benefits. The scientists had a different idea—save the sugar but devise a way to make it healthier.
Enter the Wyss Institute’s plan to lessen sugar’s harmful effects. Its enzyme, used by plants to create stalks, is encased in spherical nanoparticles—tiny mesh-like cages made of pectin that allow the enzyme to be added to food without being activated until it reaches the intestine. Once there, a change in pH causes the cage to expand, freeing the enzyme to float through its holes and start converting sugar to fiber.
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Other companies are trying similar methods. San Francisco-based startup Biolumen recently launched a product called Monch Monch, a drink mix made of fibrous, microscopic sponges designed to soak up sugar and prevent it from reaching the bloodstream. At mealtime consumers can blend a teaspoon of Monch Monch, which has no taste, smell or color, into drinks from water to wine. Once it has reached the stomach, the sponges start to swell and sequester sugar, reducing its burden on the body, says Dr. Robert Lustig, Biolumen’s co-founder and chief medical officer.
