Sweetener innovation summary: How tagatose could reshape sugar
- Global demand for sweet treats remains strong despite health pressures
- Sugar reduction drives industry adoption of alternative sweetening technologies
- Tagatose offers near-sugar sweetness with fewer calories and glycaemic impact
- New bacterial biosynthesis boosts tagatose yields up to ninety-five percent
- Efficient production could accelerate commercial use of rare sugars
From chocolates and candies to cakes and cookies, consumer demand for all things sugary sweet is stronger than ever.
But while sales of sweetened foods and beverages soar, shifting wellness goals and government regulations have led to the implementation of sugar reduction methods across the industry.
Sugar-reduction solutions, such as natural and artificial sweeteners, have had varying levels of success. And many have fallen short where it matters most – taste.
Lingering bitterness, metallic off-notes and unusual mouthfeel continue to plague the alternatives, reinforcing the sense that sugar-free comes with a compromise.
Or does it?
Researchers at Tufts University believe they’ve discovered the perfect solution
Sugar alternative
A new report, published in Cell Reports Physical Science, reveals a new biosynthetic method for producing tagatose, a naturally occurring but very rare sugar.
Tagatose, says the team, closely resembles table sugar in taste, and could offer a way of sweetening foods without the negative effects. In fact, it could even offer health benefits.
Accessing tagatose
Compared with common sugars such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose, tagatose can only be found in tiny amounts in nature.
It appears in milk and dairy products when lactose is broken down by heat or enzymes, and small traces are present in fruits such as apples, pineapples, and oranges.
Because natural sources contain so little, tagatose is typically produced through manufacturing rather than direct extraction.
“There are established processes to produce tagatose, but they are inefficient and expensive,” says Nik Nair, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at Tufts.
To overcome these limitations, the research team developed a new approach that relies on genetically engineered bacteria.
“We developed a way to produce tagatose by engineering the bacteria Escherichia coli to work as tiny factories, loaded with the right enzymes to process abundant amounts of glucose into tagatose. This is much more economically feasible than our previous approach, which used less abundant and expensive galactose to make tagatose,” says Nair.
The modified bacteria were designed to carry a newly discovered enzyme from slime mold known as galactose-1-phosphate-selective phosphatase (Gal1P). This enzyme allows the bacteria to convert glucose directly into galactose. A second enzyme produced by the bacteria, called arabinose isomerase, then completes the transformation by converting galactose into tagatose.
Using this process, the bacteria can produce tagatose from glucose with yields reaching up to 95%. That’s a major improvement on conventional manufacturing methods, which typically achieves yields between 40 and 77%. The higher efficiency also makes the process less costly.
It’s been classified by the FDA as “generally recognised as safe,” meaning it can be used in consumer food products.
Benefits of tagatose
According to the researchers, tagatose provides around 92% of the sweetness of sucrose – table sugar – while containing roughly 60% fewer calories.
It’s believed to be suitable for people with diabetes due to the way the body processes it. Only part of the sugar is absorbed in the small intestine, while much of it is fermented by gut bacteria in the colon. Because of this, it causes smaller increases in blood glucose and insulin levels than conventional sugar.
Tagatose could also support oral health. Unlike sucrose, which feeds bacteria that contribute to cavities, tagatose appears to slow the growth of some of those microbes. Added to this, research suggests it may have probiotic effects, supporting healthier bacteria in the mouth and gut.
Future sugar innovation
“The key innovation in the biosynthesis of tagatose was in finding the slime mold Gal1P enzyme and splicing it into our production bacteria,” says Nair. “That allowed us to reverse a natural biological pathway that metabolises galactose to glucose and instead generate galactose from glucose supplied as a feedstock. Tagatose and potentially other rare sugars can be synthesised from that point.”
The researchers say this strategy could make it possible to produce other rare sugars more efficiently, potentially reshaping how sweeteners are developed and used in the future.
Sweetness without compromise
For decades, the food industry has chased the holy grail of sugar reduction – a solution that delivers indulgence without the nutritional trade‑offs.
Tagatose could mark a major turning point. By closely mimicking sucrose, and with a production method that makes large‑scale manufacturing economically viable, the rare sugar is edging closer to commercial reality.
If the Tufts approach can be successfully scaled, it may finally allow manufacturers to reconcile indulgence with health, without asking consumers to compromise on flavour.
In a market where sweetness still defines what it means to be a treat, that balance could prove transformative.
