It’s very similar to sugar but has very little insulin impact at least according to one study I found. You can buy it on Amazon but it’s definitely not common…
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1463-1326.1999.00039.x/full
Tagatose - Anybody have any information / opinions on this sweetener?
David_Cumming
(David Cumming)
#1
isawthelight
#2
I just read an article on this and came here to see what the low down was. I have seen it in my local health food store, but those people also sell fructose as a sweetener!
I am interested in its baking properties and if its safe to use. As a long time cook and baker, I am constantly exploring on Keto to find certain things-a “crisp” cookie, baked goods that dont crumble, increased rise with breads and things and Ive made some progress with things like protein powder. So since its been a year, Im wondering if anyone has thoughts or experience with this.
Jennifer_Kleiman
(Jennifer Kleiman)
#3
I’m a big fan of allulose – it does undergo the maillard reaction and you can do great things with it. I’m using it for making keto candy! Just got on Amazon a few weeks ago. There are many, many studies showing allulose has beneficial health impacts – increases insulin sensitivity, decreases blood glucose a little, even raises basal metabolic rate a little – and has no serious negative effects except that some people get gastric distress/bloating from it.
Tagatose hasn’t really caught on and I think the health picture is less clear. Here’s one study looking at allulose, sorbose and tagatose:
Hepatic lipogenic enzyme activity was lowered by d‐allulose and d‐sorbose but increased by d‐tagatose. Faecal fatty acid excretion was non‐significantly decreased by d‐allulose, but significantly increased by d‐sorbose without affecting faecal steroid excretion. A trend toward reduced adipose tissue weight was observed in groups fed rare sugars. Serum adiponectin levels were decreased by d‐sorbose relative to the control. Gene expression of cholesterol metabolism‐related liver proteins tended to be down‐regulated by d‐allulose and d‐sorbose but not by d‐tagatose.
Well I don’t want my hepatic lipogenic enzymes upregulated! So… allulose. Give that a go.
isawthelight
#4
So how is your candy making going? Ive been pleasantly surprised by the carmelization i get from swerve, which Im assuming is the Inulin.
These new untested things make me a bit nervous, since I know what fructose does…How sweet is the allulose and how does its volume measure up? I end up using swerve a lot just due to the bulking aspect.
Jennifer_Kleiman
(Jennifer Kleiman)
#5
I am thrilled at our results so far. I plan to sell them at a booth at Ketofest this year! (also at Low Carb Denver and KetoCon and a few other places). We just started selling on Amazon a few weeks ago, I’m working on pitching to major retailers… minor ones too 
Allulose has proven to be excellent for homemade ice cream for us (I posted a recipe elsewhere on this forum), I mean the quality we get is equal to or better than Haagen Dazs and I’m not giving it any points for being low-carb, I mean it’s just as good as full-sugar premium ice cream. Allulose lowers the freezing point a bit so the ice cream remains scoopably soft even straight from the freezer, unlike halo top and other ice creams made with sugar alcohols.
The allulose mouth feel is almost like sugar but a little less syrupy, and it’s only 70% as sweet as sugar when used 1:1 per volume with table sugar. Functionally this has worked out just fine for my taste buds, because I’ve gotten used to less-sweet things, but some normies who’ve tasted my candy have complained it’s not sweet enough. sigh. Others have been unable to tell a difference between allulose and sugar.
It caramelizes actually better than sugar, at a lower temperature, and does fun things which @richard has experimented with. The caramelization means you can use it in baked goods to get crunch and structure but it’s VERY touchy here and tbh we haven’t mastered it. But I find ketofied baked goods are a real trigger food for me if they’re actually good so I haven’t explored this much.
The important caveat – it is mostly not digested in the stomach, and mostly not digested much at all, but some people’s gut biomes seem to interact with it and cause gas/bloating in a dose-dependent fashion, meaning, well, go easy. TANSTAAFL.
isawthelight
#6
Awesome. I am very interested in this aspect of keto baking and cooking and its hard to find a good place where the “chemistry” if you will, of keto cooking is discussed.I was a little afraid when I started Keto I would never bake or cook again at the level I did prior due to no flour no sugar etc, but I have been pleasantly surprised at where my cooking has gone with Keto and I love it. I would love to start a keto-fied bakery.