Don’t Freak Out, But Mushrooms Could Effectively Replace Sugar Very Soon

There’s no doubt that society is addicted to sugar. Even so-called health foods hide the sweet stuff in their ingredients, which we would realize if the government didn’t ban companies from putting daily sugar percentages on labels. By constantly eating products packed with sugar, your body is trained to demand it ’round the clock. Processed foods send your brain a rush of sugar, activating your reward center and making you feel so good that your body wants to keep eating it. It’s a ruthless cycle that I wish Michelle Obama had kept fighting, but big companies like Kellog outsmarted the First Lady and joined her campaign, switching the focus to physical activity rather than eliminating outrageous amounts of sugar in the food we not only eat ourselves, but give to our kids.

I started cutting refined sugar out of my diet a little over a year ago, because I noticed that I was sleeping all the time and my energy levels were nowhere near where I needed them to be. Without sounding like one of those healthy guru douchebags you can’t wait to unfollow on Facebook, I can tell you that in my first month of living solely on fruits and vegetables, what I experienced was most certainly withdrawal. I was moody, irritable, and even experienced nausea from time to time. It was definitely worth it, because the switch helped me improve my sleep schedule, gave me better skin, and even helped me shed 20 pounds without counting calories. But getting there was a huge pain in the ass, because my body was so adapted to eating sugar every day. It wasn’t like I was throwing back spoonfuls of sugar before I changed my diet– it was the fact that America is 100% dependent on processed foods that are packed with sugar, and we are all unknowingly addicted.

One Colorado start-up company is prepared to fight back against this problem. MycoTechnology is on a mission to swap out sugar with mushrooms, which is definitely an unlikely alternative. You might be wondering how the hell mushrooms could possibly replace sugar. It’s actually really cool how it works, so allow me to geek out and explain the process.

Many foods use sugar to mask the naturally bitter flavors within (think coffee or chocolate). MycoTechnology discovered that there are invisible fungus molecules called mycelium found in mushrooms. These molecules are successful in preventing your taste buds from detecting bitter flavors that you don’t want to taste. So it’s not a sweetener, but it does block out the bitterness of foods that sugar would usually be added to in order to make them more appealing. When you eat the molecules, they stick to your tongue’s taste buds for about ten seconds, allowing just enough time to block out unwanted flavors. Mycelium is what they would call a flavorless “bitter blocker,” and I am officially interested.

I never thought that fungi would be the cure to society’s addiction, in part because it’s kind of an icky food. But a lot has happened in this shitstorm of a year, so this is actually one of the more normal developments. If this spreads, mushrooms might be the saving grace that will spare all of our waistlines, and more importantly, make us feel more energized and healthy.

[via Elite Daily]

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