Reduce, stabilize, resist: Natural supplements for sugar reduction launch online

07 Sep 2020 --- Sugarbreak, a family of three sugar reduction-facilitating supplements, has launched online. The three products, Reduce, Stabilize and Resist provide consumers with natural solutions to reduce sugar intake and manage blood sugar levels. The B-Corp company aims to reverse the trends of obesity and diabetes, resulting from rising blood sugar. Amid the “reduction revolution” gathering momentum, Sugarbreak plans to expand beyond its current offerings in early 2021.

“One in three US consumers are diabetic or pre-diabetic, and it costs healthcare systems US$327 billion in 2017 to treat diabetes-related diseases alone,” says Scarlett Leung, Co-Founder and CEO of Sugarbreak. “We wanted to create a plant-based, natural solution that helps consumers to manage their blood sugar as part of their overall healthy lifestyle, without completely altering their daily lives or costing them an arm and a leg.”

Breaking down the ingredients list
Reduce is designed to be taken daily as part of a healthy lifestyle to promote healthy insulin production and support balanced cholesterol levels. It is composed of Gymnema sylvestre – a type of woody vine – which blocks sugar absorption in the intestine and helps stimulate insulin production in the pancreas. Fenugreek seed extract is high in fiber and helps decelerate the digestion of carbohydrates and sugars, while green tea is used as a metabolism booster.

Taken ten minutes prior to a carbs- or starch-heavy meal, one Stabilize capsule can block carb and sugar absorption and help minimize post-meal blood sugar spikes and crashes. Stabilize contains white mulberry leaf, Chromium picolante – added to enhance insulin sensitivity – and banana leaf extract that speeds up the overall transportation of glucose from the bloodstream to body cells. The company notes that Stabilize works to block carbohydrates and complex sugars such as table sugar but does not block simple fruit sugars such as glucose or fructose.

Resist arrives in minty gymnema-based strips that block taste buds from tasting sweetness and curbing sugar cravings before they even begin. Disassociating food from its sweetness disrupts dopamine, the reward mechanism that encourages excessive sugar consumption. The strips also include peppermint to provide a natural breath freshener and sodium alginate, an extract from brown seaweed, which allows for an all-natural breath strip without any filler.Sugarbreak helps curb cravings, stabilize post-meal blood glucose and maintain healthy blood sugar levels.

Ramping up personalized technology
To provide oversight on users’ sugar reduction progress, Sugarbreak also offers Levels, a monitoring app that tracks glucose levels in real-time. The monitoring piece can be attached to the arm, which can track blood glucose levels around the clock and saves up to eight hours of data in between scans. The corresponding app equips consumers with metabolic data to view how they react to different foods and activities. This data can also be digitally shared with medical professionals.

Personalized apps are making a splash in the nutrition industry, as seen by Dutch retailer Jumbo’s free personal nutrition app for cyclists and Chelsea Football Club’s personalized sports nutrition service. ZOE is a test kit and app that uses artificial intelligence (AI) detecting a person’s unique gut microbes and dietary inflammation, while Nestlé’s Lean Cuisine ready meal brand delivered a new customized lifestyle app that helps US consumers achieve personal wellness goals. 

As consumers seek sweetness from naturally derived sources, ingredient suppliers offer solutions to sugar-reduction without the addition of artificial sweeteners. Reporting from the show floor at ISM and ProSweets in Cologne 2020 in February, NutritionInsight discovered ingredient suppliers’ strategies for reducing sugar using fruits and vegetables.

By Anni Schleicher