Sweet protein brazzein shows promise in reducing blood sugar spikes: Study

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that a new study suggests the sweet protein brazzein may help blunt post-meal blood sugar spikes. The research, published in the journal Clinical Nutrition ESPEN and summarized by Science Alert, examined whether brazzein could serve as a sugar alternative in a dessert setting.

According to the article, scientists at Russia’s Federal Research Centre of Nutrition, Biotechnology and Food Safety ran a randomized trial involving 101 adults with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, or MASLD. Participants ate 100-gram servings of vanilla ice cream on separate days: one version contained sugar, another used brazzein, and a third combined brazzein with inulin, a fiber.

The study found that blood sugar rises after eating were lower when participants consumed the brazzein-based ice cream compared with the sugar-sweetened version. The effect appeared strongest among people with type 2 diabetes. Brazzein is a naturally occurring protein first found in the West African oubli plant and is now commonly produced through fermentation for use as a sweetener candidate.

The researchers said longer-term studies are needed to know whether replacing sucrose-sweetened desserts with brazzein could produce lasting benefits for metabolic health, liver outcomes, the microbiome or eating behavior. As broader context, health authorities have long cautioned that sugar intake is linked to chronic disease risk, while also warning that the long-term effects of some non-sugar sweeteners remain an area of debate.