Allulose is a real sugar that tastes like sugar but with about a tenth of the calories and no blood sugar spike. Here's what it is, how your body handles it, and why we chose it over stevia, monk fruit, and erythritol to sweeten Motif syrups.
Quick answer: Allulose is a rare sugar - it occurs naturally in figs, raisins, and maple syrup. It tastes almost exactly like table sugar but has roughly one-tenth of the calories and doesn't spike your blood sugar. Here's the full story on what it is, how it behaves in your body, and why we chose it over stevia, monk fruit, and other natural sweeteners for our syrups.
Allulose is a sugar. It is an actual sugar that occurs in nature - not something that was created in a factory with chemicals. It shows up in small amounts in foods like figs, raisins, wheat, brown sugar, and maple syrup, which is why it sometimes gets called a "rare sugar."
Chemically, it's a single sugar molecule (a monosaccharide) closely related to fructose, the sugar found in fruit. The difference is in how your body handles it. Because allulose exists only in tiny natural quantities, the allulose used in food is produced commercially, typically from corn or fructose.Â
Like sugar.Â
Allulose is about 70% as sweet as table sugar, with a clean, rounded sweetness and - this is the part that matters - little to no aftertaste. Most low-calorie sweeteners give themselves away: stevia can read bitter or licorice-like, erythritol can leave a cooling, almost minty finish, and several artificial sweeteners have a chemical edge. Allulose skips all of that. It also browns and caramelizes the way real sugar does, which is part of why it works so well in a flavored syrup rather than a powder you stir into water.
If you've ever tried a "sugar-free" syrup and immediately tasted the substitute, you already understand why we care about this.
No. Allulose has little to no effect on blood glucose or insulin levels. Your body absorbs it but doesn't metabolize it for energy the way it does regular sugar. Most of it is absorbed in the small intestine and then passes out of the body intact, largely within a day or two. It isn't stored as fat.
That's what makes it a workable option for people watching their blood sugar, including many people with diabetes, and why it's become popular with people following keto diets. As always, if you have a medical condition, your doctor is the right person to confirm what fits best with your plan for managing your condition.
Almost none. Allulose contains roughly 0.2 to 0.4 calories per gram, versus about 4 calories per gram for regular sugar — about a tenth. Put another way, a teaspoon of allulose lands near 1.6 calories whereas a teaspoon of sugar is around 16 calories.
It also doesn't feed the bacteria that cause cavities because it isn't broken down in your mouth.
A labeling note you may notice: in the U.S., the FDA lets allulose be left out of the "Total Sugars" and "Added Sugars" lines on the Nutrition Facts panel, because your body processes it so differently from regular sugar. It's still counted under total carbohydrates.
Allulose has Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has reviewed multiple safety filings for it over the years without objection.Â
The honest, complete picture: like most sugar alternatives, allulose can cause digestive discomfort (e.g. gas or bloating) if you consume a large amount at once, since not all of it is absorbed. The fix is simple: consume a recommended amount in your coffee.
Every sweetener is a bit different. Here's how the common ones compare:
Stevia — Plant-derived and zero-calorie but many people notice a bitter or licorice-like aftertaste. This was one of the most common pieces of feedback we heard about other syrups on the market.
Monk fruit — Also plant-derived and zero-calorie, and well-liked, though some people pick up a slight aftertaste, which is why it's often blended with another sweetener.
Erythritol — A sugar alcohol that's nearly calorie-free but it can have a cooling aftertaste, can cause gastro-intestinal discomfort for some, and has been shown in some research to impact heart health at high blood levels.
Allulose — The closest thing to sugar on taste and texture, roughly a tenth of the calories, no real aftertaste, and it caramelizes like sugar. Its main catch is the gastro-intestinal sensitivity at large doses, noted above.
There's no universally "best" sweetener. But if your goal is something that tastes like sugar in a pourable, flavored syrup, allulose is hard to beat.
We make coffee syrups for people who care how their coffee actually tastes. That ruled out the sweeteners that announce themselves with a chemical or bitter finish - the exact thing that makes so many "better-for-you" syrups disappointing.
Allulose lets us build syrups that taste the way a café syrup should: clean, rounded sweetness that lets the pistachio taste like pistachio and the vanilla taste like vanilla, without a sugar crash or an artificial aftertaste getting in the way. One sweetener, no fillers, no compromise on flavor. That's why we chose to use allulose in our syrups.
Is allulose natural? It occurs naturally in foods like figs, raisins, and maple syrup. The allulose used in food is produced commercially, usually from corn, because it exists in nature only in tiny amounts.
Is allulose keto-friendly? Yes. It doesn't raise blood glucose or insulin and contributes almost zero calories, which is why it's popular on keto and low-carb diets.
Does allulose cause a sugar crash? No — because it doesn't spike your blood sugar, there's no corresponding crash.
Is allulose the same as erythritol or stevia? No. Erythritol is a sugar alcohol and stevia is a plant extract. Allulose is an actual sugar that your body doesn't metabolize for the most part.
Can allulose upset your stomach? In large quantities, it can cause gas or bloating, like most sugar alternatives. A typical serving in coffee is well within a comfortable range for most people.
Is allulose FDA-approved? It has GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status with the FDA and is permitted in foods and beverages.
