It measures like sugar, browns like sugar and bakes like sugar. Without the sugar.
Most sugar substitutes fail at one of three things: they cannot be measured cup for cup, they will not brown in the oven, or they leave a cooling aftertaste. BE Sweet is built to do all three, from allulose, monk fruit and stevia.
Read why sugar-free baking falls flat ↓
The bag in your cupboard probably lists erythritol first.
Erythritol is a sugar alcohol. It is inexpensive, it carries almost no calories, and it takes up roughly the same volume as sugar. That last part is the only reason it is in the bag, because bulk is what lets a brand sell something measured by the cup.
It is the first ingredient on most of the best selling monk fruit and stevia blends. Panels are printed in order of weight, so first means most, which means the tub bought as a monk fruit sweetener is mostly not monk fruit.
It is also why the baking never worked. Sugar alcohols cannot brown, and browning is where most of the flavour in a bake is created.
See a sweetener made without itCompare the two ingredient panels. One of them starts with erythritol.
Ingredients are printed in descending order by weight. It is the fastest check you can do in a supermarket aisle.
A typical monk fruit sweetener
- Erythritol
- Monk fruit extract
- Sometimes stevia leaf extract
Lakanto Classic and Whole Earth's monk fruit blend both list erythritol first, and both describe it as the bulking agent that makes the product measure like sugar.
BE Sweet Powder
- Allulose
- Stevia extract
- Monk fruit extract
- Jerusalem artichoke flour
- Fenujac gum
- Fermented greens blend
No erythritol, xylitol, maltitol or sorbitol. The bulk is allulose, a rare sugar that occurs naturally in figs and raisins, rather than a sugar alcohol.
Stevia and monk fruit are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar. Something has to fill the rest of the bag.
Monk fruit and stevia are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar. Nobody can sell you a teaspoon of that, so it gets cut with something, and the something is most of what you pay for.
Bulk sweeteners
Close to sugar in sweetness, so they can fill the bag
One of these two is doing the bulking in every bag on the shelf. The question is only which.
High intensity extracts
Impossible to measure on their own
A 16 oz bag of "monk fruit sweetener" may contain around a teaspoon of actual monk fruit extract.
What the 2023 erythritol study found.
Witkowski and colleagues, in Nature Medicine in 2023, measured circulating erythritol in people undergoing cardiac risk assessment. Higher levels tracked with higher three year risk of major adverse cardiovascular events: adjusted hazard ratios of 1.80 in a US cohort of 2,149 and 2.21 in a European cohort of 833. Laboratory work in the same paper found erythritol increased platelet reactivity.
Witkowski M, et al. The artificial sweetener erythritol and cardiovascular event risk. Nature Medicine, 2023. The paper reports an association, not a cause.
Sugar sends blood glucose up. BE Sweet does not move it.
Glycemic index measures how far a food pushes blood sugar up, so a lower number is the better one. Sugar sits at 65. BE Sweet does not register.
BE Sweet is built from allulose, monk fruit and stevia, all of which carry a published glycemic index of zero. A teaspoon contains 6 g of total carbohydrate, all of it from allulose, which the FDA excludes from Total and Added Sugars but which still counts as carbohydrate on the Nutrition Facts label. Values for the other sweeteners are from published glycemic index tables and vary a little by source and variety.
Illustrative. The shapes reflect the published glycemic index values above, 65 against 0. They are not a clinical measurement of this product, which has not been tested this way, and individual responses differ.
Three reasons people on keto, paleo and gut protocols make the swap.
It is not metabolised for energy
Allulose looks and tastes like sugar, but the body does not use it for fuel. Most of it is absorbed and then excreted rather than broken down, which is why it carries a published glycemic index of zero.
No sugar alcohols at all
Sugar alcohols as a class are the reason so many sugar-free products carry a laxative warning. Erythritol is the best tolerated of them, roughly 90% absorbed before it reaches the colon, but maltitol and sorbitol are not. BE Sweet contains none of them.
Stevia without the stevia finish
Stevia on its own can turn bitter, and erythritol leaves a cooling sensation on the tongue. Blending a small amount of organic stevia with monk fruit and allulose is what rounds those edges off.
Most sugar substitutes cannot brown or caramelize. This one does.
Caramelization and the Maillard reaction need a reducing sugar. Allulose is one. Erythritol is a sugar alcohol, and is not.
| Sugar | Erythritol | Stevia or monk fruit alone | BE Sweet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caramelizes | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Browns in the oven | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Adds bulk and structure | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Cooling or gritty finish | No | Common | No | No |
| Calories per teaspoon | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Feeds yeast and candida | Yes | No | No | No |
Colour is flavour, not decoration.
Colour is not decoration. Browning is where most of the flavour in a bake is actually created, which is why a pale cookie tastes flat even when it is sweet enough. Get the browning back and you get the bake back.
Allulose also holds on to moisture, so cookies and cakes stay softer and chewier for longer instead of drying out. It browns slightly faster than sugar, so drop the oven about 25°F or pull things a few minutes early.
Bake with it this weekendA cup of sugar becomes a cup of BE Sweet.
No conversion chart. It dissolves in hot or cold, it will not seize in a sauce, and it will not crystallize on a glaze.
| If the recipe calls for | Measure out | Adjust anything? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 teaspoon sugar | 1 teaspoon BE Sweet | Nothing |
| 1 tablespoon sugar | 1 tablespoon BE Sweet | Nothing |
| ½ cup sugar | ½ cup BE Sweet | Nothing |
| 1 cup sugar | 1 cup BE Sweet | Nothing |
| Anything going in the oven | Same amount | Drop the heat about 25°F |
The only line that changes is the oven, because it browns a little faster than sugar does. Some customers find they want slightly less in drinks, so taste before adding more.
How to read any sweetener bag in ten seconds.
Three checks, in order. They work on every brand on the shelf, including this one.
- Read the first ingredient. Panels are printed in descending order by weight, so ingredient one is most of what is in the bag. Erythritol, xylitol, maltitol or sorbitol means a sugar alcohol is doing the bulking.
- Count what is actually sweetening it. Monk fruit and stevia are 150 to 350 times sweeter than sugar. A bag that measures cup for cup cannot be mostly either of them, so something else is filling the volume.
- Check what it does with heat. Sugar alcohols do not caramelize and do not brown. If the bag makes no claim about baking, that is usually the reason.
BE Sweet passes all three. The first ingredient is allulose.
Check BE Sweet against all three
What people say once they have actually baked with it.
"Tastes great and it doesn't include erythritol. I trust Body Ecology products!"
"I love BE Sweet Powder because it does not have erythritol. Also, because it works well in baking and tastes great!"
"Often with products like this there's a strong aftertaste, not so here. Doesn't take a lot so one bag goes a long way."
Body Ecology has been arguing about gut health since 1994.
Long before it was mainstream, founder Donna Gates was teaching that the gut shapes energy, immunity and how a person handles stress. She wrote the Body Ecology Diet and spent years formulating around that idea.
Over 70,000 people have bought from Body Ecology since. BE Sweet exists because a sweetener that feeds yeast, or that has to be bulked out with a sugar alcohol, does not belong in that protocol.
One bag. 117 teaspoons. No conversion maths.
BE Sweet Powder
- 117 one teaspoon servings a bag
- Measures cup for cup with sugar
- Browns and caramelizes in the oven
- Allulose first. No erythritol, ever
Four questions people ask before switching.
Does it really bake like sugar?
Yes, and it is the main reason to switch. Allulose is a reducing sugar, so it caramelizes and browns the way sucrose does. It browns slightly faster, so drop the oven about 25°F or check a few minutes early.
Is it a true one to one swap?
It is formulated to replace sugar cup for cup. Some customers find they need a little less, particularly in drinks, so taste before adding more.
Will it affect blood sugar?
It is built from ingredients with a published glycemic index of zero. A teaspoon contains 6 g of total carbohydrate, all of it from allulose, which the FDA excludes from Total and Added Sugars but which still counts as carbohydrate on the label. If you are managing diabetes or another condition, treat it as you would any dietary change and speak with your doctor.
Will it feed candida or yeast?
No. There is no sugar and nothing yeast can use as fuel, which is why it fits the Body Ecology diet alongside keto and paleo.
Sugar-free should not mean giving up the results.
Allulose, monk fruit and stevia. It browns, it caramelizes, it dissolves, and it bakes cup for cup.
Make the swapSources. Erythritol and cardiovascular risk: Witkowski M, et al. The artificial sweetener erythritol and cardiovascular event risk. Nature Medicine, 2023. Erythritol absorption of roughly 90% with urinary excretion is established in the polyol tolerance literature. Ingredient ordering by weight is required by FDA labelling rules, 21 CFR 101.4. Competitor panels referenced are Lakanto Classic and Whole Earth monk fruit blend, both listing erythritol first at the time of writing. Glycemic index values are from published GI tables and vary by source and variety. Allulose is excluded from Total and Added Sugars under FDA labelling rules but is still declared as total carbohydrate.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you are pregnant, nursing, managing a medical condition or taking medication, speak with your healthcare provider before changing your diet.