Shiru, an AI-powered protein discovery startup, has partnered with ingredients giant Ajinomoto to discover, develop and commercialize naturally sweet proteins as an alternative to sugar.
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Shiru's AI-driven platform, Flourish, will identify new sweet, natural, food-safe proteins, and Ajinomoto will use its fermentation experience to develop the proteins into usable ingredients and bring them to market.
There are already several sweet proteins available from fruits and berries that grow near the equator, but they pose challenges with flavor and overall stability. Sweet proteins can be up to 5,000 times sweeter than sugar, meaning they can replace 70 to 90 percent of the sugar sweetness in commercial products.
“This collaboration and the balanced combination of our two companies' strengths will enable us to identify natural proteins that can be used as sweeteners in a variety of applications to meet the changing demands and consumer expectations of the food industry,” Ryan Smith, chief growth officer and executive vice president of Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition, said in a Business Wire release.
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Shiru and Ajinomoto aim to develop a naturally sweet protein that doesn't cause the blood sugar spike commonly experienced after consuming traditional sugar or high fructose corn syrup, which could help solve pressing global health problems such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease that are linked to excessive sugar intake.
“Sweet proteins do not induce insulin release and may therefore be useful in managing blood sugar and diabetes,” the press release explains. “Sweet proteins are digested like other food proteins, which are the building blocks of macromolecules in our body, and therefore do not harm the gut microbiome.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) says rates of diabetes, obesity and heart disease are rising, and a study published this week also linked erythritol, one of the most common artificial sweeteners, to an increased risk of heart disease.
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