Is This Miracle Berry the Key to Kicking Cravings? It Makes Food Taste Like Sugar
Have you ever wished you could love vegetables more? Enjoy eating your recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, instead of craving sugary sweets all day long? Now there is a little berry that is being marketed as a cravings killer, since eating it (or a tablet form) can that can enhance your perception of food (making it taste sweet) and help you satisfy your cravings, without all the calories of sugar. The MiraBurst tablet, which you put on your tongue to melt it and prime your tastebuds before you bite into something sour like a lemon, will make your food taste sweet. Out of West Africa, this berry is called a miracle fruit, because it has the ability to help people with diabetes or high blood sugar, taste all the "sweet" sensation without actually eating sugar and gaining calories. Imagine eating a slice of lemon and having it taste as sweet as a lemon drop.
Dr. Emmanuel Asare, Founder & CEO of MiraBurst, explains how these tablets can help benefit people with diabetes, or a sweet tooth, and more. He tells how this Ghanaian fruit, works, exactly, and its benefits for those with diabetes, and more.
Founded in 2010, MiraBurst's main mission is help people enjoy healthy eating and feel satisfied without having to eat sugar or add sweeteners to their coffee or their smoothies, a fruit cup or more. "Specifically we want to encourage them to add more fruits and vegetables to their diets, and the same time help them cut down on processed sugar and junk foods," says Dr. Asare.
This berry is the only type on the planet that causes subsequent sour foods taste sweet. The real name for it is Synsepalum dulcificum. "This miracle berry has been there for centuries in Ghana, Dr. Asare explains. "And a French explorer in the 18th century who came to West Africa discovered it, and it became known in the west. But long before then, the natives of West Africa and Ghana had been using it to make foods sweeter for children and adults for centuries." Once discovered by Europeans, the research began on how to best use the berry, and since the mid-18th century researchers the medical applications focused on diabetes. Then in the US and Japan scientists started to work on how to best help people who need to eat less sugar for health purposes use the so called miracle berry to do so. But now the fruit is being marketed for everyday commercial use by the population who just wants to cut back on added sugar.
"They named it 'miracle' because it miraculously makes things you eat next taste sweet without any added calories or sugar," Dr. Asare explains. "Besides which, there are many nutritional benefits to this superfruit: It is high in antioxidants including polyphenols and vitamins C, E and D. It also contains micro-nutrients and essential amino acids, minerals and other compounds. So when you eat the berry it gives you all the benefits, as if you were drinking healthy fruit drinks. But its most remarkable quality is that it allows you to eat healthy fruits and drinks that often are bitter or sour and they taste good." So while it allows you to fuel up on citrus that may taste bitter, it also contains phytonutrients that are beneficial for the body.
Artificial Sweeteners Are Now Out of Favor for Health Purposes
Back in the mid 70 there was a movement to use fake sweeteners, but now we know that Aspartame and other sweeteners carry adverse health effects such as making your body crave sugar calories, Dr. Asare adds. The story behind diet soda would have you believe that these artificial sweeteners would help you lose weight because they would replace sugar. But then we learned that studies regular intake of Aspartame has been linked to weight gain and larger waist circumference, and studies have shown that people who eat Aspartame regularly have a higher incidence of developing heart disease, diabetes and stroke. It may be tied to sweeteners driving up a craving for sugar or the that when artificial sweeteners are taken, insulin may react by signaling the body that sugar is on the way and telling the body to store calories as fat.
Miracle berry is a taste enhancer, so it does not work as an "additive." It has to be on your tongue first so it is considered a taste modifier. You eat it the same way you eat a fruit. And then you can enjoy things that are acidic without tasting the sour flavor.
Since the berry is extremely perishable it is picked and the seeds are remove and the fruit juice is immediately frozen to keep its active ingredients intact, Dr. Asare explains. They then make a tablet out of the powder. "You put it on your tongue and within 2 minutes you can enjoy your food and beverages" and no matter how bitter, they taste much sweeter. "It brings out the natural sweetness. It takes you to the next level of satisfaction ... so if you eat something with lemon or strawberry or pineapple, you will think "Wow, this is the highest level of sweetener we could ever taste."
For a diabetic, he says, this can be a game changer since they don't need to add sugar to their food for it to taste sweet. MiraBurst costs $16.95 for ten tablets.