Juba

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
For last 4,5 years I'm on keto and paleo diet. Of course I don't use sugar, instead of that I use a bit of xylitol in coffee, but I found following article about monk fruit (Siraitia grosvenorii), or Luo han guo and its interesting properties as a natural sweetener with negligible effect on blood sugar, almost no calories and lot of antioxidants.

Link: -https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-04-04-why-monk-fruit-is-the-best-sugar-substitute-yet-discovered.html

From the article:

Ideally, when looking for a healthier sweetener, you look for something that is naturally occurring and has proven health benefits. For these reasons alone, you can immediately rule out artificial, man-made sweeteners that go under names like aspartame, Splenda, Sweet N’ Low, saccharin, AminoSweet, sucralose, and Truvia, just to name a few. They are arguably worse than refined sugar itself.

You also don’t want a sweetener that spikes your blood sugar, or adds relatively empty calories, like maltodextrin, glucose, corn syrup, refined table sugar, pasteurized honey, evaporated cane juice, and agave syrup.

Finally, you also want a sweetener to taste sweet, not bitter, which can happen with some other natural, low calorie sweeteners like stevia extract.

Good news – the monk fruit, also known as “luo han guo,” answers the bell on resolving all these concerns with artificial and natural sweeteners. A small green melon originally grown in southern China that was named after monks who harvested the fruit, this legendary sweetener has been referred to as the “longevity fruit,” which gives a glimpse into how different it is than most other sweeteners.
Since it spoils quickly after picking, the best method of use for those not able to access it directly is in a dried extract. This doesn’t make it any less favorable as a sugar substitute though. Take a look at the benefits of monk fruit extract as a natural and healthier sweetener:
  • Naturally contains almost no calories
  • Is 300 times sweeter than cane sugar, which doesn’t come from natural sugars, but powerful antioxidants
  • Has a negligible effect on blood sugar
  • Contains no bitter aftertaste
  • Is high in a powerful antioxidant known as mogroside.
  • Supports weight loss plans
(...)

For monk fruit, a little extract goes a LONG way. Just a 1/4 teaspoon has the equivalent sweetness of 1.5 cups of sugar, so a pinch is all you really need for most cases. (...) You get a highly potent concentrate with 50 percent of it made from “mogroside V,” which is the sweetness factor and antioxidant present in monk fruit, at the highest concentration you can get.

More about monk fruit:

-https://www.selfhacked.com/blog/monk-fruit/

Monk fruit has:
  • Zero calories
  • Vitamin C, which decreases blood histamine levels and maintains collagen
  • Kaempferol, a flavonoid with potent antimicrobial and antioxidant effects
  • Triterpene glycosides, compounds that suppress reduce the growth of tumor cells
  • Mogrosides I-V:
    • 11-oxo-mogroside V inhibits ROS and DNA oxidative damage
    • Mogroside V promotes apoptosis and inhibits angiogenesis
    • Mogroside IV increases tumor suppressor gene p53 and decreases MMP-9
    • Mogroside IIIE improves pulmonary fibrosis
  • Cucurbitacins, compounds that have anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting TNF-alpha and COX-2
  • Polysaccharide fibers, which lower cholesterol levels

Monk fruit contains mogrosides, antioxidants that decrease blood vessel leakiness (permeability), inhibit histamine release from mast cells, and prevent inflammatory damage.

Mogrosides are saponins, chemicals that prevent the excess leakiness of cell membranes (membrane hyperpermeability), which protects mitochondria and DNA from oxidative damage.

Mogrosides also protect DNA by increasing the production of PARP1, p53, and MAPK9.

Mogrosides have anti-cancer effects by:
  • Promoting programmed cell death (apoptosis) and arresting the cell cycle of cancer cells.
  • Suppressing cancer proliferation by increasing p53, a protein that suppresses tumors, and decreasing MMP-9.
  • Reducing VEGF, which helps reduce blood vessel growth.
Mogrosides also decrease inflammation by:
  • Reducing NF-kB and suppressing the PI3K/Akt pathway.
  • Decreasing the production of inflammatory molecules such as iNOS, COX-2, and IL-6.
Mogroside extract improves glucose and fat metabolism by:
  • Reducing CREB and activating AMPK, which helps reduce blood sugar and suppress fat production
Monk fruit contains compounds that have antibacterial activity. In the lab, beta-amyrin, aloe-emodin, sitosterol, and daucosterol inhibited the growth of Streptococcus mutans, Actinobacillus, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Candida albicans.

Perhaps this could be alternative for erythritol or xylitol.

More on mogorsides antioxidant:

-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17852496
-https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09637480701336360?journalCode=iijf20

Link for monk fruit and erythritol combo on Iherb.

-https://www.iherb.com/pr/Lakanto-Monkfruit-Sweetener-with-Erythritol-Golden-8-29-oz-235g/73339

or pure monk fruit:

-https://www.iherb.com/pr/The-Julian-Bakery-Pure-Monk-Fruit-3-5-oz-100-g/73664
 
Of course I don't use sugar, instead of that I use a bit of xylitol in coffee
I stopped using xylitol and went back to sugarcane sugar, the kind that still smells like real sugarcane. Xylitol caused me sinus problems and probably interfered with or killed gut bacteria. I think there are other people here who also stopped using xylitol too.
 
I stopped using xylitol and went back to sugarcane sugar, the kind that still smells like real sugarcane. Xylitol caused me sinus problems and probably interfered with or killed gut bacteria. I think there are other people here who also stopped using xylitol too.

Indeed. I am aware of xylitol laxative properties, I'm using it in small dosages and have tolerance to it without diarrhea or consequences that long-term laxative use would cause. But my mom is intolerant to xylitol, and does not like stevia (me too), that pushed me in the direction of search for more beneficial natural sweetener option like a monk fruit.
 
Indeed. I am aware of xylitol laxative properties, I'm using it in small dosages and have tolerance to it without diarrhea or consequences that long-term laxative use would cause. But my mom is intolerant to xylitol, and does not like stevia (me too), that pushed me in the direction of search for more beneficial natural sweetener option like a monk fruit.


Thank you for sharing this @Juba. I'm considering ordering it for my grandpa who cannot have sugar anymore. His diet has been very poor for years and he is now paying the price.

I bought him xylitol and he was really excited that he can drink his tea sweet again but if there is a healthier option I'd definitely like to try it out. He seems to be tolerating xylitol well but it's still early days so I'll wait for his feedback before making any decisions. I'll look into it some more as given his current health status I need to make sure there are no side effects that would make his condition worse.
 
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