AI Technology And Fermentation Could Replace Sugar With Healthy 'Sweet Proteins'

AI-powered protein discovery startup Shiru is partnering with ingredients giant Ajinomoto to find, develop, and commercialize naturally sweet proteins to replace sugar.

Shiru’s AI-driven platform “Flourish” will identify new, natural, and food-safe proteins with a sweet flavor while Ajinomoto will draw on its experience with fermentation to develop the proteins into usable ingredients and bring them to market.

A handful of known sweet proteins can already be derived from fruits and berries growing near the equator, but there are some challenges around flavor and overall stability. Sweet proteins can deliver up to 5,000 times more sweetness than sugar, so could replace 70-90 percent of the sweetness provided by sugar in commercial products.

“This partnership, and our balanced strengths, will allow us to identify natural proteins for use as sweeteners across numerous applications to meet the changing demands of the food industry and what consumers expect,” said Ryan Smith, Chief Growth Officer and Executive Vice President at Ajinomoto Health and Nutrition, in a release on Businesswire.

Sweet proteins could help manage blood sugar and diabetes

Shiru sweet proteins represented in a 3D model — Shiru Shiru has created a 3D model based on protein functional attributes

Shiru and Ajinomoto aim to develop proteins with a naturally sweet flavor that do not cause the blood sugar spikes often experienced after consuming traditional sugar or high fructose corn syrup. This could help address pressing global health issues such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease, all of which have been linked to excessive sugar consumption.

“Sweet proteins do not trigger insulin release, which may help manage blood sugar and diabetes,” explained the release. “Sweet proteins are digested like any other dietary protein, the large-molecule building blocks of our bodies. Because of this, they are not harmful to the gut microbiome.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) says rates of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease have been increasing. Furthermore, a study published this week also suggests a link between erythritol – one of the most common artificial sweeteners – and increased heart disease risk.