Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought some Bochasweet directly from their site (cheaper) and used it to make what I hoped were keto desserts. Coconut flour chocolate cake, almond flour cookies, ice cream, even chocolate. Bochasweet works wonderfully and tastes great. But I was concerned when I read the packaging again and got the claims that Bochasweet was both zero calorie and yet somehow “pure energy.” I wrote to the company to ask them about this, and their reply was “We get your question about energy and zero net calories every now and then. We feel the specific scientific answers you require are best obtained from credible third party experts. If you ask on Google you will be directed to credible science studies.” What is Bochasweet? The ingredient list is pentose. Well, pentose is just a category of simple sugars with 5 carbons. If you look up pentose metabolism, you’ll find the pentose phosphate pathway. Hey, do your own research, but here’s what I see. Pentoses come from a variety of sources – fruits, vegetables, nucleic acids from meats. Not unusual. They don’t have to be digested per se. Pentoses pass directly from the small intestine to the blood. No issue there. Pentoses are pretty important, and they get metabolized in this pentose phosphate pathway. There’s a lot of chemistry to wrap your head around, but essentially, your body makes pentoses all the time from glucose – especially ribose. You’ve heard of RNA and DNA? Ribose is the “R” in RNA. So either glucose or dietary pentoses can be converted in ribose so cells can build RNA/DNA. All goodness. But what if your cells don’t need to use the ribose right now? The pentose continues down the pathway and is converted to a form of fructose (a 6 carbon sugar) and glyceraldehyde (a 3 carbon sugar). Why is this important? Because both these sugars go straight into the glycolysis pathway to make your enemy and mine, glucose. Okay, you need glucose, but I’ve got too much. I’m not a chemist, but I test my glucose levels pretty often. So, I tested my fasting glucose level this morning (91) and then put 4 tablespoons of Bochasweet in my otherwise black coffee. Nothing else to eat or drink At one hour, I tested again and got 111. At 2 hours, back to 96. Great! My body is processing glucose pretty well today – but I was expecting no glucose rise at all. 4T of erythritol or the equivalent in stevia or sucralose wouldn’t affect me. Zero calories? I think not. Is a 20-point rise unacceptable? It is for me. I typically use erythritol, sucralose, and for some things polydextrose – none of these increase my blood glucose at all. Bottom line? If you’re concerned about your glucose levels, test how your body reacts to Bochasweet before you commit. Did you read on the Bochasweet package that it’s a pure form of energy and no insulin is involved? No blood sugar spikes? If Bochasweet raises your glucose level like it does for me, how is the glucose processed? Insulin. If you’re keto or low carb or trying to lose weight, you might not want to use Bochasweet.