Rating: Cut back

Purpose / Use

Allulose is used as a sugar substitute in food.¹ It is chemically related to the natural sugar fructose and is 70% as sweet as sucrose (table sugar).² Allulose may be listed under the trade name Honeytose.³

Products

Allulose is found naturally at low levels in wheat, fruits, molasses, maple syrup, and other foods, and it can be manufactured from fructose.¹ It is added to a wide range of foods such as syrups, cereals, snack bars, ice cream, candy, sodas and baked goods.

Safety assessment

The body processes allulose differently from traditional sugars.⁴ It is mostly not absorbed by the body, so, gram for gram, it only has 10% of the calories of traditional sugars and other carbohydrates. Like other similarly metabolized sugars (see tagatose), allulose does not raise blood glucose or insulin levels after being consumed and does not promote tooth decay like traditional sugar.⁴ However, eating large amounts of allulose can cause gastrointestinal distress. A 2024 report by the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) agency noted that some people experienced laxative effects when consuming more than 0.4 gram per kilogram of bodyweight (28 grams for a 154 pound adult) in a single serving or 0.9 gram per kilogram of bodyweight (63 grams for a 154 pound adult) per day.⁵ As a reference, Magic Spoon cereals contain 5 to 10 grams of allulose per serving⁶, meaning an average adult would need to eat about 3 servings of Magic Spoon at one sitting or 6 servings in a day to potentially experience laxative effects.  

Allulose is included in the amount of total carbohydrates shown on the Nutrition Facts panel alongside other sugars, fiber, and other carbohydrates. However, it does not have to be included in “total sugars” or “added sugars” because so little of it is absorbed and therefore its effects on blood sugar are different from other sugars. Food companies in the US are not required to list the amounts of each ingredient in the ingredients list on their products, so unless a food company chooses to specifically list the amount of allulose, it is impossible to know exactly how much allulose is in a product. In the highly unusual case that allulose is the only source of carbohydrates in a product, the “total carbohydrates” line would tell exactly how many grams of allulose there are.  The FSANZ concluded that, while it had no concerns about the consumption of allulose for healthy adults, the safety for certain subpopulations such as people with diabetes and pregnant or lactating women could not be established since these populations were generally excluded from participating in the available studies and data on their safety in these populations is lacking.⁵  

Food manufacturers have determined for themselves that allulose is "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) for use in food, and the FDA did not object to those conclusions. This form of self-attestation is not the same as getting formal FDA approval.

To learn more about the GRAS loophole and how it undercuts food safety and transparency, click here.

In 2019, CSPI urged the FDA to require additional studies to better determine what level of allulose triggers adverse effects, and to require labels to warn consumers that “excess consumption of allulose may cause diarrhea or other adverse gastrointestinal effects.”⁷

As with all non-nutritive and low-calorie sweeteners, CSPI recommends that children avoid allulose and calls for additional research on the long-term health effects in children, in line with similar recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research (HER) which advise against children consuming beverages with non-sugar sweeteners. AAP’s and HER’s concerns are based on the lack of safety data for non-nutritive sweeteners among children and the possibility that consumption of these types of sweeteners could lead to a preference for sweet foods and beverages among children.^8-10 The best choice for all consumers is to choose unsweetened foods and beverages whenever possible.

References

1. US Food and Drug Administration. The Declaration of Allulose and Calories from Allulose on Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels: Guidance for Industry. October 2020. Available: https://www.fda.gov/media/123342/download
2. Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Supporting document 1 (At Approval). Technical and Risk assessment – Application A1247: D-allulose as a novel food. August 19, 2024. Available: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-08/A1247_SD1_at_Approval.pdf
3. EFSA NDA Panel. Turck D. et al. Safety of D- allulose as a novel food pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. EFSA Journal. 2025; 23(6) Available: https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9468
4. US Food and Drug Administration. Sugars That Are Metabolized Differently Than Traditional Sugars. October 16, 2020. https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/sugars-are-metabolized-differently-traditional-sugars
5. Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Approval report – Application A1247: D-allulose as a novel food. August 19, 2024. Available: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-08/A1247%20Approval%20Report.pdf
6. Magic Spoon: Cereals https://magicspoon.com/products/variety-1-case-6-boxes-1. Accessed: August 20, 2025.
7. Center for Science in the Public Interest. CSPI comments on FDA draft guidance re: Declaration of allulose. June 17, 2019. Available: https://www.cspi.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/allulose%20final%20from%20CSPI.pdf. Accessed August 26, 2025.
8. Baker-Smith CM, et al. The Use of Nonnutritive Sweeteners in Children. Pediatrics. 2019;144(5). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31659005/
9. Lott M, et al. Healthy Beverage Consumption in Early Childhood: Recommendations from Key National Health and Nutrition Organizations. Consensus Statement. Healthy Eating Research. September 2019. Available: https://healthyeatingresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/HER-HealthyBeverage-ConsensusStatement.pdf. Accessed July 24, 2025.
10.  Lott M, et al. Healthy Beverage Consumption in School-Age Children and Adolescents: Recommendations from Key National Health and Nutrition Organizations. Consensus Statement. Healthy Eating Research. January 2025. Available: https://healthyeatingresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/HER_ConsensusStatement_FINAL.pdf. Accessed July 24, 2025.

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