Low-calorie sweetener can also improve gut health: Study

Washington : A new study has revealed that a low-calorie mixture that is as sweet as table sugar and, in lab experiments, feeds ‘good’ gut microbes.
The study was published in the journal, ‘Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry’.
Artificial sweeteners have exploded in popularity because they let people consume sweets without calories. However, while they’re considered safe for human consumption, studies in animals and humans suggest that some of them can stimulate appetite, leading to increased food consumption and weight gain, as well as other negative health outcomes.
So, researchers have been turning to the study of low-calorie or extremely sweet substances from natural sources as possible replacements. For example, galactooligosaccharides — found in mammalian milk — are low-calorie sugars with a prebiotic activity that can be a source of energy for beneficial gut microbes, but they’re not quite sweet enough to replace table sugar.
Alternatively, extracts from the luo han guo fruit contain mogrosides — compounds 200 to 300 times sweeter than table sugar. But these extracts sometimes have off-flavours, which can be removed with enzymes. So, F. Javier Moreno and colleagues wanted to take advantage of the best aspects of both natural substances, using enzymes to modify mogrosides while simultaneously producing galactooligosaccharides for a brand-new low-calorie sweetener.
The researchers started with lactose and mogroside V (the primary mogroside in luo han guo fruit).