USDA-ARS Partnership Leads to Low Glycemic Sweetener for Diabetics
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Narrator: Our bodies convert carbohydrates into sugar but many people including those with diabetes need to carefully control blood sugar levels. Scientists with the US Department of Agriculture in Peoria Illinois partnering with Cargill found a way to do just that. 

Chemist Greg Cote and others with USDA's Agricultural Research Service helped develop a natural sweetener called Sucromalt part sucrose from cane or beet sugar and part maltose from corn sugar. 

Greg Cote: Sucromalt slowly releases glucose into the blood much more slowly than sugar or high fructose corn syrup would and it turned into what they call a low glycemic sweetener which is something that's still sweet still has calories but it doesn't give the big spike or increase in blood sugar so it benefits especially consumers with diabetes who can't necessarily eat sugar or high fructose corn syrup. 

Narrator: Sucromalt also benefits corn, sugarcane and sugar beet farmers by creating an additional market for their crops. It's part of a long tradition here at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service where scientists take cues from industry to develop value-added agricultural based innovations. 

Cote: We take agricultural commodities and treat them either chemically or biologically to get new compounds. What we need is industry to tell us which new materials or new methods might be of interest to them for what applications. What market niches. 

Narrator: Sucromalt is a perfect example--used in low glycemic food products it helps diabetics minimize blood sugar spikes. 

In Peoria Illinois for the US Department of Agriculture I'm Pat O'Leary