Asher Herman | November 28th, 2024
What if sugary foods could suddenly convert into the necessary fiber your stomach needs?
Zbiotics, a company producing “genetically engineered probiotics,” claims to have created a product that converts sucrose to levan fiber in your gut. Sucrose is dangerously abundant in an American diet, averaging 17 teaspoons of added sugar per day. The American Heart Association recommends between 6 and 9 teaspoons per day. Sucrose is present in foods ranging from fruits and vegetables to cereal and candy. Currently, American adults eat only about 15 grams of fiber per day, when they should be consuming between 25 and 30. Evidently, added sugar is in excess and fiber is in short supply. Zbiotics claims to be able to fix this problem without changing our diets.
The science behind the mechanism is quite interesting. Sucrose is made up of a glucose molecule and a fructose molecule joined by an acetal oxygen bridge. The product introduces a probiotic bacteria into your gut system in dissolvable powder form named “Sugar to Fiber” that breaks up the sucrose molecules. The probiotic creates an enzyme named levansucrase that attaches to the sucrose, breaks the molecule apart by the acetal oxygen bridge, and stacks the pieces to create molecules of levan fiber.
Zbiotics claims that this process leaves your gut with a steady and consistent supply of fiber all day. They recommend taking one packet per day for these results. Currently, one 28-pack of Sugar to Fiber sells for $80. Maybe this product will become a necessity if we continue to lack fiber and over-consume sugar.
References
American Heart Association. (2024, September 24). How Much Sugar is Too Much?. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/sugar/how-much-sugar-is-too-much
Genetically engineered probiotics people love. ZBiotics. (n.d.). https://zbiotics.com/
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (2022, April). Added Sugar. The Nutrition Source. https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/carbohydrates/added-sugar-in-the-diet/
UCSF Health. (2024, May 21). Increasing Fiber Intake. ucsfhealth.org. https://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/increasing-fiber-intake.
U.S. National Library of Medicine. (n.d.). Sucrose. National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Database. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/sucrose