Artificial intelligence is about to revolutionize the way we perceive dessert. Silence, a US-based startup specializing in AI-powered protein discovery, has teamed up with the ingredients giant Ajinomoto to identify, develop and commercialize naturally occurring sweet proteins that could replace sugar as we know it.
An alliance as sweet as honey (but healthier)
In the world of food innovation, unexpected collaborations often lead to the most surprising results. It's as if Willy Wonka meets Tony Stark: on the one hand we have Shiru, with his AI platform “Flourish”, on the other Ajinomoto, an ingredient giant with a fermentation expertise that would be the envy of any craft brewer.
And what did they do together? Apparently nothing, some inattentive reader will say. I can already imagine comments like "sweet proteins are nothing new" (I would have added "gne gne"). Mother Nature, in her infinite wisdom (or perhaps her sense of humor), has already created some of these wonders in fruits and berries that grow near the equator.
As often happens, however, nature has also left us some homework, in the form of questions: stability problems, less than perfect flavor nuances. And that's where our pair of tech heroes comes in.
“This partnership, and our balanced strengths, will allow us to identify natural proteins for use as sweeteners in numerous applications to meet the changing needs of the food industry and consumer expectations,” said Ryan Smith, Chief Growth Officer and Executive Vice President of Ajinomoto Health and Nutrition.
Sweet proteins, a tasty superhero power
I see, I see… A sweetener 5.000 times more powerful than sugar. This is the potential of the sweet proteins discovered by Shiru's AI. They could replace 70 to 90 percent of the sweetness provided by sugar in commercial products. It's as if each grain of this new sweetener is a mini-Thor unleashing a storm of sweetness on your tongue.
And the "strength" of these sweet proteins goes beyond simple taste. Unlike traditional sugar or high-fructose corn syrup (which sound like bad guys in a nutrition superhero movie), these proteins they do not cause the dreaded blood sugar spikes.
“Sweet proteins do not cause the release of insulin, which could help manage blood sugar and diabetes,” the release explains. “Sweet proteins are digested like any other food protein, the molecular building blocks of our bodies. For this reason, they are not harmful to the gut microbiome.”
In an era when the World Health Organization (WHO) is sounding the alarm about the increase of diabetes, obesity e heart disease, these sweet proteins could be the superheroes we need.
And don't think artificial sweeteners are the answer.
A recent study has cast a shadow over theerythritol, one of the most common artificial sweeteners, suggesting a link to an increased risk of heart disease. The xylitol? Let's go further. And the sucralose it's even worse.
Sugar is dead, long live sweet proteins
We are not talking about saying goodbye to the sweet taste, but about reinventing it in a healthier way. It's as if we were updating the operating system of our palate, moving from a version full of bugs (traditional sugar) to a more stable and high-performance one (sweet proteins).
As Shiru and Ajinomoto work in their high-tech laboratories, we imagine a world where we can enjoy your favorite dessert without the guilt, where the word “diabetes” is no longer associated with sweets, and where our intestinal microbiome he jumps for joy every time you eat something sweet.
Sweet proteins could change the food industry, our relationship with sweet food and partly even healthcare. It's as if we're about to turn the page in a thousand-year-old cookbook, discovering a new chapter we didn't know existed.
One day we will tell our grandchildren about when we used sugar in desserts, and they will look at us in disbelief, like we look at those who used lead in pipes.
