Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: What if there was a sweetener that could help manage type two diabetes and obesity?
Today we're going to talk about just that thing. Welcome to the Duster Mud podcast.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: I'm Shelly.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: I'm rich.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: After 25 years of being in the air force and traveling around the world, we stopped and landed in southwest Missouri and started a first generation regenerative food.
But also in 2019, to add to that, we actually stopped eating sugar, what turned out to be forever.
So while we farm, we also like to talk about keto and being sugar free. And that's kind of what we're going to talk about today. But before we do that, let's do a little farm happenings.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Yeah, we haven't done that in a while. If you don't care about the farm, I totally understand. Skip this section and we'll go straight to the alulose discussion. But for the farm happenings. Yeah, man, a lot. It's springtime and springtime is busy.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: We're running up on summer.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Real hard.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. We're. We have processed two batches of chickens. This. The third batch gets processed tomorrow. So our beef chickens, that is well in its cycle.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Right. The cows are on the move, grazing and looking really, really good. And we just created a paddock this morning because our heifer, Miss Stella, she's our, one of our Jersey cows, she Jersey Bovine, she is ready to be bred and she should be coming into heat tomorrow. Tomorrow ish. So we have the beef herd lined up and ready to come in so that whenever she's in heat, hopefully our.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: Bull can get the job done and happy. The cow that we currently have in milk, it's time for her to be bred back again also. So maybe a twofer here.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Yeah, we're not sure about it, but we'll see.
[00:01:59] Speaker A: It's a basically a week plus long process because we have to sort of shift the beef herd rotation to get them over to the dairy herd area at just the right time.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: Right.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: We don't, there's not enough grazing area around the dairy cows so that we can't just bring the beef herd in and leave them for an extended period of time, then the dairy cows wouldn't have anything to eat. So it's a bit of a scheduling process. Process there to get everybody well in.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: The, in the pig department. We have eleven feeders on the farm. We have four more on the way this weekend. This weekend. Well, so we'll have a total of 15.
They are doing really, really well. They are pure Berkshire. We love the breed and we like the flavor of the meat and we're excited to continue that process through our breeders who are also maybe bred and doing their thing.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: They're doing really well. The ones that should be bred did not cycle back into heat this time, so it's a good sign that they're bred. And so we should be looking at piglets come late summer and then from, for the next, I don't know, five or six weeks after we start farrowing, we should be having piglets.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: Right? And in the sheep department, they're out there, they're grazing, they're happy, they're doing their thing. Lambs are all growing. We've got 60 plus lambs on the ground, a mix of boys and girls. So that's good. And in the coming weeks, we will have some ewes, ewe lambs put up for sale and be doing some modification with our, our sheep flock.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
[00:03:44] Speaker B: So everyone is doing, doing their job pretty good. And the farmers have been busy. Yeah, we've been busy because the farmers are also turning into store clerks.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: So our, our new storefront in Ava, Missouri, just off the downtown square, is coming right along. We have freezers full of meat moved in. We've got the stores coming together with the furnishings and such and things like cash register and stuff should be showing up probably while we're recording this podcast.
[00:04:20] Speaker B: So we hopefully in the coming days, we will have announcements about when we will actually be able to open.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: So air to ground meets is making its way towards opening day.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: We look forward to seeing some of you and filling your baskets with some, some amazing protein. Yeah, speaking of protein and foods, let's get to some allulose.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: Okay, so we've talked about artificial sweeteners previously, or non caloric natural sweeteners even, I guess is probably the more technically correct way to say it.
And we mentioned allulose, but there was a recent study that just got announced yesterday where doctor Benjamin Bickman from Brigham Young University released a study that he's been working on for the past twelve weeks with alulose. And the findings are significant enough that we wanted to bring the topic to you and discuss it with you. Alulose is looking like pretty cool stuff. Pretty cool stuff. So we wanted to bring it to you to chat.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: So the basis of the study, they took some rats. This was not a human study.
[00:05:37] Speaker A: Not yet.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: He took, there have been human studies. You can put the link to those studies in there.
[00:05:44] Speaker A: I'll put the. Yeah, all of it. I found the human studies previously I'll try to find it again. The rat, the study that doctor Bickman just did, I'll definitely put that for sure.
[00:05:55] Speaker B: So it was in rats over the course of twelve weeks?
[00:05:58] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: They got some overweight rats.
Did they have type two diabetes? They were able to give rats type two diabetes.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: Isn't that interesting?
[00:06:09] Speaker B: That is. That's crazy. So they. And over the course of twelve weeks, some got allulose and some did not.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: Okay, so what happened?
[00:06:20] Speaker A: Well, what is alulose? Where'd it come from?
[00:06:24] Speaker B: Oh, that's a good question. Let's talk about alulose first. I was getting all into the study because I'm excited to know what the effects are.
[00:06:32] Speaker A: Yeah, but alulose, it was discovered in the 1940s.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: So it's not that new?
[00:06:38] Speaker A: No.
[00:06:39] Speaker B: Well, it's been there all the time. It's not new at all.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: It's always been there.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: It's not new at all.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: It's always been there. But they discovered it in the 1940s. It is a naturally occurring sugar, basically, that occurs in raisins and figs and wheat, and I've even read in maple syrup. I don't see that often, but I've read that before. I can't. I don't know about that.
[00:07:04] Speaker B: I think the food world, they term it a rare sugar. Yes, it is, because it's a little bit of it in a few foods. Yes, but they have. But it was discovered some years ago.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Yep. And they've fairly recently figured out how to make it then. So they use the fructose from corn.
This is how they produce it on scale. They use the fructose in corn and through an enzymatic process, which is basically digestion, it's what happens in your stomach. Through an enzymatic process, they're able to convert that fructose into allulose. And now it is becoming more and more available to us. And like I said, we mentioned it on a previous pod podcast that you can order it, like, sometimes in the stores. What I've seen is it's rather expensive, but you can find brands on Amazon where it's not terribly expensive. It's more than sugar, but it's. It's not like, off the charts expensive like it is in some of the stores.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: So it's a naturally occurring sugar that they have figured out how to also create, derived from nature. Naturally. Okay, cool.
It's sweet.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: It is about 70% as sweet as sugar, so it's not quite as sweet as sugar, but it also, though, has a negligible impact. On glycemic index. So when people ingest allulose, there is no to very, very little glycemic response. So its glycemic index is right there at the zero range.
[00:08:56] Speaker B: So in the neighborhood of stevia, which we really like as far as what its doing to your blood sugar.
[00:09:03] Speaker A: Yep, thats right. Which is basically nothing.
[00:09:06] Speaker B: Right.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: So you can eat it as a sweetener and not have a blood sugar response to it.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: I mean, we have stevia, why do we need something else?
[00:09:16] Speaker A: And some people don't like the flavor of stevia and allulose because it is a natural sugar.
It really tastes more like sugar. So people think of like when they, the aftertaste that you get with a lot of the other non caloric, natural or artificial sweeteners, the allulose, most people say that it does not have that same type of aftertaste. And it bakes like sugar because it is sugar. It's just not quite as sweet.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: So you might just have to use a little bit more because it's only 70%.
[00:09:54] Speaker A: That's right. And sometimes you can find it mixed with other sweeteners, like a monk fruit or something that is, that is already sweeter. So it adds that sweetness to it.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I think we saw that blend.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: And as far as calories go, it has 0.4 calories per gram, where sugar has four calories per gram. So it's definitely less than sugar a lot of times. Most times, actually, you'll find it listed as a zero calorie sweetener.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: All right, so now we know what allulose is. Let's get back to a study.
So he's got his rats, he's got his control groups, he's doing his study. And we've got some overweight rats with type two diabetes. And we're going to see what, what this does. So what, so what are some of the things that they found in this?
[00:10:49] Speaker A: I'm actually going to break out my notes on this one because I got your glasses. I don't want to miss anything.
So.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: Hello.
[00:10:57] Speaker A: What?
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Remember, put your glasses on.
[00:10:59] Speaker A: I can read.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: Oh, you can't.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: Okay.
Now that you can actually see. Oh, good.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: All right, so here's what they found.
The rats were given allulose supplements. The results were promising here. Okay, so this seems like crazy, but here it goes.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: Reduced body weight gain, improved insulin sensitivity, enhanced glucose regulation, lower food consumption, increased glp one levels, which is a hormone that promotes insulin secretion, reduced inflammation and improved gut health.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: Huh?
[00:11:55] Speaker A: Right. Too good to be true.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: That sounds way too good to be true. Yeah, it really does.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: Right.
And the. The human studies that I've. I've mentioned in the past show many of the same things.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: Yeah. I think it was kind of discovered, it seemed like from the other thing that you were the other study, and over time, it was something that was sort of, kind of happened upon. These people were using this and they were seeing results. Like, this is kind of weird. Right? Wasn't it?
[00:12:24] Speaker A: Yeah. What they were finding was that they were. When they would eat a meal with allulose, people with. It was specifically the people with diabetes that were watching their blood sugars, their glycemic index, really carefully. When they would eat a meal that had something with allulose, they were finding their blood sugar was lower at the completion of that meal than when they ate that same meal without alulose.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: Right.
[00:12:56] Speaker A: So it was causing that. That was really causing the questions as to what's happening. And so some people started using allulose. Like, I. I put a teaspoon of alulose in my water or in something and take it as if it were a supplement, basically, during a meal, to. To. And it affects their. Their blood sugar response to that meal.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: And their insulin sensitivity.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: And their appetite.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Right.
[00:13:27] Speaker B: Okay. I mean, those are positive. Like. Yeah, let's go.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: So it's. It reminds when you just said that it.
We're not doctors, blah, blah, blah.
But it's the increased GLP one, like, the sensitivity, it sounds like it's acting like the ozempic and lego vinyl.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Whenever you said that, I'm like, that sounds like a naturally occurring ozempic effect.
[00:13:58] Speaker A: Right. I don't know what the.
What he didn't go into in the study really was what dosage they used with the rats. And if you can even come close to that dosage in humans. So that's.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: But humans are already seeing some effects.
[00:14:12] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah. But that's why he's also. He's already started the human study, so I would expect, if he does, I don't know if twelve weeks is long enough, but I would expect in a few months, we should be hearing back from Doctor Beckman about what's going on with this human study. So, like, really, really interesting things that are happening. So the implication is there is potential that a sweetener could be used to help with obesity and type two diabetes.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: Like, because it is improving those things.
There's potential there that, like, by eating something sweet, you could be helping yourself.
[00:15:07] Speaker B: Okay, so what is the metabolic pathway, then is it. Are we. Is it kind of. Do you remember. Okay, y'all, y'all. Do you remember olestra?
[00:15:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: And that stuff that they would fry, it was like, quote, fat free potato chips, and they would fry them in this olestra. And it was basically. Your body did not process it. It would just shoot straight through.
And it did. It shot straight on through.
[00:15:34] Speaker A: Not everybody, but a lot of.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: Oh, man. Whoo. Weed.
[00:15:37] Speaker A: Enough that they had to take it off the market.
[00:15:39] Speaker B: Yes, they did. So much so that they had to take it off the market. So is. So how is this going through your system, and where is it digested? What happens with it? Did they explain any of that in, like, simple terms?
[00:15:55] Speaker A: As I. Again, as I understand it, based on the research, it makes its way all the way through your stomach, through your small intestine, intact. And that's why it doesn't affect your glycemic index. So your mouth tastes it as sweet, but your body doesn't actually break it down until it makes its way into the colon. And it starts a bit of a breakdown in the colon, but it's past absorption time at that point. So it. Again, according to the research I've done, it basically passes through your body, stomach, and small intestine, basically undetected. Yeah.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:39] Speaker B: Interesting.
This is mind blowing, the fact that it's actually just already out there in nature.
[00:16:50] Speaker A: Yeah. So there are side effects.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: I was gonna get to that. Like. Okay, so it get. It passes through your stomach, your small intestines, gets down into all your. Where you digest and uptake your nutrients. And I think you said something about fermentation.
It's.
Is there any.
Are there any negative effects?
[00:17:19] Speaker A: Yeah, there are.
[00:17:21] Speaker B: Some people can't do, like, a bunch of erythritol because it messes them up.
[00:17:25] Speaker A: For me. Well, I have a. I have a level, and I don't know exactly what that level is because you use different amounts and different foods. But for me, I have a level. If I exceed level x, whatever that is, of erythritol, I have gastrointestinal discomfort.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: Discomfort.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: Right, right.
If I stay under that, I'm just fine. It's as if nothing happened. If I go over that. Right.
And I don't, again, like, sometimes if I put too much in my chaffles, it doesn't work out for me, but just enough in the chaffles, it's just fine.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: Hope it works out.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: But some people find the same thing with valueless.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: Right.
[00:18:12] Speaker A: It can.
It's a small percentage of the people, as of now is what the studies are showing.
A small percentage of people have gastrointestinal discomfort. It's often those people that make comments, though. So it seems like a disproportionate amount of people are having GI discomfort. But like, you know, the people that are going to make comments on threads are typically the ones that are having the issues, not the ones that aren't having the issues.
[00:18:41] Speaker B: I don't have anything to say.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: So there are definitely people that have issues with it, though.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:18:46] Speaker A: So I think, though, it has to do with the amount.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: Oh. So I guess it comes with a little bit of a caution on. First of all, it's a new product.
In our world. It's a new product. You should take that with ease.
[00:19:05] Speaker A: The commercially produced aspect of it is definitely new. Again, it's a naturally occurring thing that's been around forever, but making it and turning it in, converting something else into alulose, selling it whole, it is not legal for human consumption or for sale in Europe. Our canadian friends let us know what is happening in Canada right now.
[00:19:33] Speaker B: Can you buy it? Do you all get to have it?
[00:19:35] Speaker A: I've seen differing opinions on that, so I don't know. But in the US, it certainly is legal. It is generally regarded as safe, meaning.
[00:19:46] Speaker B: That we love that term.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: It can be put into products. And mom was just saying that the yogurt she bought for dad was sweetened with allulus. So it is certainly becoming more like a chobani yogurt. Like it's not some weird thing.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: So if we're going to kind of make a switch and start using this in our cooking and baking and sweetening our things, then we might just want to get. Just start out a little easy, see what your threshold is. I wouldn't go full board and, you know, use a whole bunch of it at once and then be turned off by it because it gave you an upset stomach. Like, know that this is kind of a new thing. And some people have reported that it can give you some gastrointestinal discomfort if you go too far with it. So test your threshold before you just go all out.
[00:20:42] Speaker A: I've read comments, people saying, if I have any of it, it gives me Gi issues. And some people describe more like my response with erythritol. Like, erythritol doesn't bother you at all. But for me, if, again, there's a tipping point. And so my assumption is that with alulose, I'm probably going to have that same thing, that same tipping point, right? Is my. Is my assumption.
[00:21:06] Speaker B: But, man, if you can have a little bit of that, and you've been struggling with being overweight, obese, type two, diabetic, and you can tolerate it.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: Right.
[00:21:17] Speaker B: And that could help you. Dude, you're like having a keto cupcake and it's helping you.
[00:21:23] Speaker A: Right?
[00:21:23] Speaker B: What?
[00:21:24] Speaker A: Right? Like, guys, it's increasing your insulin sensitivity, decreasing your blood sugar levels. This is kind of increasing your GLP one.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: If this is true, you know, which it turns. It looks like it's turning out to be. So then we could actually be doing ourselves favors by eating something. Eating something kind of yummy.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: So this. It's interesting. I want to get some.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: I think you have some in the cart. I do.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: I was sort of waiting. Our continuous glucose monitors are on their way from England, so I was sort of waiting on our cgms. Uh, that was one of the little personal tests I wanted to do when our glucose monitors got here.
[00:22:07] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, that. So that'll be fun.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: But I need. You're absolutely right. We do need to order it and get it here.
[00:22:12] Speaker B: Yeah. So that we can. So that we can try it and see if we can tolerate it.
[00:22:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Maybe I can't tolerate it at all.
[00:22:18] Speaker B: Well, yeah, it might not matter what it does to your blood sugar.
[00:22:22] Speaker A: If it puts me on the toilet, then it doesn't matter.
[00:22:26] Speaker B: No. But it might matter for me, so.
[00:22:28] Speaker A: Yeah, sure.
[00:22:31] Speaker B: Anyway, I think it sounds wonderful. I hope that it is what they're hoping that it is.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: All of the research is pointing towards it being that way.
I would love it if you guys would share your experiences with alulose.
If you have tried it and had no issues, leave that as a comment, because oftentimes those comments don't make their way out there. If you've tried it and have issues, obviously, we would love to hear that as well.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: If you have a CGM that you wear and you use it, let us know what your results are. If you have something that might. Would tip you anyway, try it with your CGM, if at all possible.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:20] Speaker B: Because I know some of you guys wear them.
[00:23:21] Speaker A: We're very interested to see what.
And we'll keep an eye on what's going on with the research on it, and next thing we hear about it, we'll pop in and let you know.
[00:23:33] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Well, thanks for hanging out with us again today, guys. And until next time. Bye bye. All.
