The startup that’s fighting diabetes with a hidden food ingredient

Diabetes is a problem of epic proportions. Worldwide, the number of people with diabetes has risen from 108 million in 1980 to 425 million in 2017. The most vulnerable regions include Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

A healthy diet can prevent diabetes. The cold hard truth, however, is that healthy foods are sometimes more expensive and don’t taste quite as good. Besides, changing people’s eating habits can be harder than moving a mountain. However, what if you can bring the battle to diabetes without altering your eating habits? What if healthy food can taste just as good as their less-than-healthy counterparts? Alan Phua, CEO and co-founder of Alchemy Foodtech, has a plan.

The two co-founders of Alchemy Foodtech posing with senior minister of state, ministry of trade and industry and ministry of education, Chee Hong Tat (center) / Photo credit: Alchemy Foodtech

Alchemy Foodtech is a Singaporean startup incubated at NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS). Since its inception in 2015, the mission has been clear: to reduce the high glycemic index (GI) in foods, such as refined white rice, bread, and noodles.

Food with high GI causes sudden spikes in blood glucose levels in our bodies. Sometimes, these spikes can shoot up just as quickly as sugar consumption, which means avoiding sugary drinks and desserts may not be quite enough. Research has shown that each plate of rice consumed per day on a regular basis raises the risk of getting diabetes by 11 percent.

After three-and-a-half years of research and development, the Alchemy Foodtech team finally made a breakthrough with a Glycemic Index Lowering Composition (GLC), an advanced food ingredient they are calling 5ibrePlus.

In layman terms, 5ibrePlus is a rice replacement made from natural plant fiber and extracts. The patent-pending ingredient lowers blood glucose spikes — and here’s the kicker — without changing the taste, texture, and color of the food. Furthermore, 5ibrePlus is available as rice-grain shapes and food powder, which means that it can be easily added to the existing food manufacturing processes, which will, in turn, lower the GI of existing food products.

According to Alchemy Foodtech, a mere 9 percent replacement of raw rice grains with 5ibrePlus is enough to reduce the GI of, say, cooked white refined Jasmine rice from 109 (high GI) to 68 (medium GI). And since plant fibers and extracts are the main ingredients, 5ibrePlus is also vegan-friendly and 100 percent gluten-free.

A NUS student and team member of Alchemy Foodtech preparing food samples for guests during the official opening of Cook Lab@Alchemy, which allows the team to analyze anything from digestion rates of carbohydrates to texture analysis / Photo credit: Alchemy Foodtech

So far, Alchemy Foodtech has secured about 20 local and international food manufacturers to develop lower GI versions of their food products. Some partners include Gardenia, a leading bakery manufacturer; Lim Kee, a steamed bun manufacturer; and TSK, a noodle manufacturer. Restaurant chains, such as Han’s F&B Group, have also come on board.

Han’s F&B Group will be incorporating 5ibrePlus into the company’s restaurant chains. “We are working on a pilot with Alchemy Foodtech to develop healthier lower GI versions of some of our existing dishes, such as fried rice and some of our pastries,” reveals general manager Simon Siah. He adds that the company intends to launch healthier versions of their dishes at four to six outlets by July 2019, with a wider adoption potentially down the line.

Food manufacturing partners aren’t the only ones that have taken notice. In a recent pre-series A round, Alchemy Foodtech raised S$2.5 million (US$1.84 million), with backers such as Heritas Capital Management, Seeds Capital (the venture arm of Enterprise Singapore), Bits x Bites (a Shanghai-based foodtech accelerator and VC), NUS Enterprise, and other angels.

This is on top of the initial S$1 million (US$735,000) in grants that Alchemy Foodtech received from SPRING Singapore (now Enterprise Singapore) through the Technology Enterprise Commercialisation Scheme (TECS).

Making a dent