Key TakeawaysTrehalose is a naturally and commercially produced sugar that is used as a sweetener and stabilizer in some food products.Some research suggests trehalose has potential to be used to manage some metabolic diseases but more studies are needed.Research from 2018 associated trehalose with a rise inC. diffinfections but newer research disputed this claim.

Key Takeaways

Trehalose is a naturally and commercially produced sugar that is used as a sweetener and stabilizer in some food products.Some research suggests trehalose has potential to be used to manage some metabolic diseases but more studies are needed.Research from 2018 associated trehalose with a rise inC. diffinfections but newer research disputed this claim.

Trehalose is a naturally occurring sugar found in some mushrooms, seaweed, honey, and yeast.This sweetener has beencommercially producedin Japan since the 1990s. Recently, trehalose has been gaining attention among scientists for its potential use as a food stabilizer and therapeutic.

A new review published inNutrientssuggests that trehalose could be used to manage certain metabolic diseases and it may support the gut microbiome as a prebiotic.Trehalose can also be used as an effective food preservative.

“It can protect foods against discoloration and various chemical reactions. It’s a functional additive in addition to a sweetener,”Patrick Gibney, PhD, a co-author of the review and an assistant professor of food science at Cornell University, told Verywell.

Gibney added that trehalose has “some potential health benefits,” but more studies are needed to confirm these observations.

Some food scientists and manufacturers are already incorporating trehalose into more products. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted trehalose “generally recognized as safe” status in 2000, and the sweetener has been included in thousands of food products including baked goods, processed vegetables, and seafood.

It’s about half as sweet as table sugar, but it’s used in food science as more than just a sugar alternative, according to Anqi Chen, PhD, an assistant professor in the Science Center for Future Foods at Jiangnan University in China who co-authored the review with Gibney.

Trehalase Deficiency is Rare

Does Trehalose Have Any Health Purposes?

Medical experts are still trying to understand how trehalose could be used to manage certain health conditions.

Some researchers are also interested in using trehalose in diabetes management potentially. A randomized controlled trial in 2020 examined glucose tolerance in healthy individuals who took a small daily dose of trehalose, compared to those given table sugar. The results suggested that trehalose improved glucose tolerance in some people who don’t have diabetes and it may help people with prediabetes maintain health.

Jamie K. Alan, PharmD, PhD, an associate professor in pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, told Verywell in an email that there are a few trehalose therapeutic products available on the market right now,and side effects appear to be minimal at doses below 50g.

“This is something to watch, and I expect to hear more about this compound in the future,” Alan said.

Does Trehalose MakeC. diffWorse?

The FDA considers trehalose to be generally safe. However, a study published in 2018 warned that the rise in trehalose consumption after FDA approval may have contributed to the growing “epidemic and hypervirulent strains” ofClostridioides difficile (C. diff).

C. diffinfections are associated with diarrhea and colon inflammation and can be life-threatening for older adults or those with weakened immune systems.It is a serious infection, and the 2018 study led to concerns that trehalose might not be safe for consumption.

But other studies have since disputed the claims and said that trehalose was not responsible for a rise inC. diffinfections.

Gibney discussed the conflictingC. diffresearch in his recent review, stating that even though trehalose likely did not causeC. diffinfections, more studies are needed to look at the effect of different sugars on the gut microbiome.

“There could be many types of sugars that have positive prebiotic effects if they help promote the growth of beneficial microbes in the microbiome,” Gibney said, adding that scientists should examine different sugars “for their effects on the human microbiome and how those effects alter human physiology in either positive or negative ways.”

What This Means For YouTrehalose is already used on the market and many experts think this will start appearing in more products soon. It is considered safe for most people to consume and for now there isn’t enough evidence to say that it offers significant health benefits.

What This Means For You

Trehalose is already used on the market and many experts think this will start appearing in more products soon. It is considered safe for most people to consume and for now there isn’t enough evidence to say that it offers significant health benefits.

10 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Chen A, Gibney PA.Dietary trehalose as a bioactive nutrient.Nutrients. 2023;15(6):1393. doi:10.3390/nu15061393

Kahraman H, Keskin ZB.The importance of trehalose sugar.Biomed J Sci Tech Res. 2019;21(3):15917-15919. doi:10.26717/BJSTR.2019.21.003608

National Institutes of Health: Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center.Trehalase deficiency.

Khalifeh M, Barreto GE, Sahebkar A.Therapeutic potential of trehalose in neurodegenerative diseases: the knowns and unknowns.Neural Regen Res. 2021;16(10):2026-2027. doi:10.4103/1673-5374.308085

Yoshizane C, Mizote A, Arai C, et al.Daily consumption of one teaspoon of trehalose can help maintain glucose homeostasis: a double-blind, randomized controlled trial conducted in healthy volunteers.Nutr J. 2020;19(1):68. doi:10.1186/s12937-020-00586-0

Collins J, Robinson C, Danhof H, et al.Dietary trehalose enhances virulence of epidemicClostridium difficile.Nature. 2018;553(7688):291-294. doi:10.1038/nature25178

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.What isC. diff?

Consumer Reports.6 food additives to watch.

Saund K, Rao K, Young VB, Snitkin ES.Genetic determinants of trehalose utilization are not associated with severeClostridium difficileinfection outcome.Open Forum Infect Dis. 2020;7(1):ofz548. doi:10.1093/ofid/ofz548

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