What Is Allulose?

If you have been reading labels on clean-ingredient snacks and supplements lately, you have probably started seeing a new sweetener pop up: allulose. It is not a household name yet, but it will soon be. 

At MYO, we use allulose as our primary sweetener. We picked it because we wanted our bars to taste genuinely good without adding sugar or leaning on unhealthy sweeteners that leave an aftertaste. 

Allulose Is a Naturally Occurring Sugar

Allulose, also called d-psicose, is a rare sugar that occurs naturally in small amounts in certain foods, including things like figs, raisins, wheat, and jackfruit. It was first isolated from wheat in the 1940s, and in recent years food scientists have developed a way to produce it at scale by converting it through an enzymatic process.

Structurally, allulose is almost identical to fructose - it differs by just one molecular arrangement at one carbon atom. That tiny difference changes almost everything about how your body handles it.

How Allulose Differs from Regular Sugar

Unlike sucrose (table sugar) or fructose, allulose is not metabolized by the body in the same way. It is absorbed into the bloodstream from the small intestine but then excreted by the kidneys, meaning it provides virtually no usable calories. The FDA has acknowledged this by ruling that allulose does not need to be counted in the total or added sugars on a Nutrition Facts panel, and it contributes approximately 0.2-0.4 calories per gram compared to 4 calories per gram for regular sugar.

For people tracking net carbs or looking to reduce sugar intake, allulose is one of the most compelling options available. It has been shown in various studies not to spike blood glucose the way sugar does, and it does not carry the digestive side effects that many sugar alcohols like maltitol or xylitol are known for. Most people tolerate it well.

How It Tastes

This is where allulose really earns its place. It tastes like sugar. Not sort-of-like-sugar. Actually like sugar! And, even better, clean, without the aftertaste of erythritol or the lingering bitterness of stevia or monk fruit. It has approximately 70% of the sweetness of sucrose, and it behaves like sugar in baking: it browns, it caramelizes, it contributes to texture. Chef's dream!

That last point matters enormously for a soft-baked bar. Many alternative sweeteners do not interact with heat the way sugar does, which means bars made with them end up with a different texture and mouthfeel than expected. Allulose lets us bake naturally, and the result is a bar with a real, satisfying bite.

Ready to taste what clean sweetness actually means? Browse MYO bars here.