MENA Newswire, BOSTON: Scientists at Tufts University say they have developed a more efficient way to make tagatose, a naturally occurring “rare sugar” that tastes close to table sugar while delivering fewer calories and a much smaller rise in blood glucose and insulin in published clinical studies. The team reported that engineering bacteria to convert widely available glucose into tagatose could address a longstanding obstacle that has kept the sweetener relatively expensive and limited in use.
Tagatose occurs only in trace amounts in nature, including in some dairy products when lactose is broken down by heat or enzymes and in small quantities across certain fruits. Researchers describe it as about 92% as sweet as sucrose, with roughly 60% fewer calories. U.S. regulators have designated tagatose as generally recognized as safe for use in foods, positioning it as a candidate for manufacturers seeking sugar-like taste and performance with lower metabolic impact.
The work was described in a study published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science. The researchers reported modifying Escherichia coli to serve as a production platform by adding a newly identified enzyme from slime mold, galactose-1-phosphate-selective phosphatase, alongside another enzyme, arabinose isomerase, to complete the conversion to tagatose. The team reported yields of up to 95% from glucose, compared with conventional processes that typically achieve lower yields.
How the production method works and why it matters
Researchers said the body’s handling of tagatose helps explain its lower effect on blood sugar and insulin compared with sucrose. They reported that only part of the ingested tagatose is absorbed in the small intestine, while a substantial portion reaches the colon, where it is fermented by gut bacteria. The study discussion and prior clinical findings cited by the researchers describe minimal increases in plasma glucose and insulin after ingestion, a profile that has made tagatose of interest in dietary planning for people managing diabetes or insulin sensitivity.
Beyond metabolic measures, the researchers cited evidence that tagatose behaves differently from sucrose in the mouth and may help limit the growth of some cavity-associated bacteria. They also described indications of supportive effects on beneficial microbes in the mouth and gut, consistent with how some low-absorbed carbohydrates are processed. In food applications, the team described tagatose as a “bulk sweetener” that can provide volume and texture, and it can brown during cooking and baking, characteristics that are difficult for many high-intensity sweeteners to replicate.
Regulatory and labeling details
While tagatose is permitted for use in foods in the United States, its labeling treatment differs from certain other low-calorie sugars. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has addressed how tagatose should appear on Nutrition Facts labels, including in a 2023 supplemental response that stated tagatose must be declared as an added sugar. Industry reporting and FDA materials have noted that tagatose contains fewer calories than sucrose, but more than allulose, a separate rare sugar that the FDA has exempted from the “added sugars” designation.
The Tufts team framed the new process as a way to reverse a common biological pathway to generate an intermediate sugar from glucose and then convert it to tagatose, using enzymes selected for the task. They said the approach is intended to make manufacturing more economical by relying on abundant feedstocks rather than costlier inputs. The researchers also reported that the same strategy could be adapted to synthesize other rare sugars, expanding the toolkit for food and nutrition science while keeping the end products closer to sugar’s taste and functional properties.