Yes, sugar is very inflammatory and terrible on the body.
I’ve tried all the artificial sugars and never cared for the aftertaste. There have been concerns about the effect of erythritol on cardiac health, too, I tried pure Monkfruit by Now Foods, but didn’t care for it. Then in mid 2025 I discovered Allulose. At first, I tried a liquid form. Then I found an Allulose/Monkfruit blend by Lakanto that I really like. I found it once at a local grocer but none of the grocery stores carried it after that. It is available on Amazon where I buy it now.
The discovery story behind Allulose is quite amazing. If you like scientific discovery, it’s worth reading. It is classed as a “rare sugar” which are carbohydrates that exist in limited quantities in nature, with approximately 50 types said to exist. “Rare sugars” are monosaccharides that occur only in extremely low concentrations in nature. Among them, allulose, known to exist in trace amounts in figs and raisins. But converting that rare sugar was the big chemical problem.
The commercialization of rare sugars has a long history. Dr. Ken Izumori, a professor at Kagawa University, began his research on rare sugars in the mid-1980s, driven by a simple yet profound question: “Even if they exist only in trace amounts, there must be a reason they are present on Earth”. In 1991, researchers at Kagawa University discovered a microorganism in nearby soil that produced an enzyme capable of converting fructose into the rare sugar D‑allulose.
They scooped ordinary dirt from the Kagawa University campus, grew bacteria from that soil and fed them unusual sugar alcohols to see if anything new appeared. One strain unexpectedly flipped one sugar into another, and that enzyme also turned everyday fructose into allulose. Later they repeated the same idea with hundreds of soil samples until they found safer bacteria that do the same job.
Japanese DIRT held the answer!
Fascinating stuff. Thank you.
I understand the aftertase issue. I drink Zevia soda which is sweetened with Stevia. Nothing nasty in it such as colorings or preservatives. Very healthy. When I first tried it, I was put off by the Stevia aftertaste. But I persevered. After a week, my taste buds had fully acclimated. Now there is no sense of aftertaste at all.
Sometimes it may be worth it to keep trying.