Palisadian Introduces SweetFiber, A Natural, No-Calories Sweetener

When entrepreneur Scott Taylor talks ‘sweet,’ it is about his new food product SweetFiber, a sugar substitute that is 100 percent natural, has no calories and contains fiber. Still, ‘it’s a harder sell than I thought it would be,’ said Taylor, a Pacific Palisades resident whose product can be purchased at Gelson’s. In addition to battling established sweeteners such as Splenda, Sweet’n Low and Equal, he has to educate the consumers about why his product is healthier. For example, a teaspoon of sugar has 15 calories, artificial sweeteners have four, and SweetFiber has zero. Artificial sweeteners also use a sugar alcohol, such as sucralose, aspartame and saccharin, and are so sweet, only a minuscule portion is used in each packet, which means the remainder of the white powder is a filler most commonly blended with malt dextrin, a starch with calories, according to Taylor. SweetFiber, by contrast, receives its sweetness from a vegetable in the Chinese melon family called luo han guo, or monk’s fruit. The extract is nearly 300 times sweeter than sugar and has been used in China for more than a thousand years. Luo han guo is generally sold in dry form and is traditionally used in herbal tea or soups for respiratory ailments and sore throats. To make SweetFiber, Taylor mixes luo han guo with fiber from the chicory root [inulin]. ‘I put in fiber for health reasons,’ he said, and the net result is a sweetener that is gluten-free and calorie-free. Taylor, who has worked for 10 years as a brand strategy consultant, decided he wanted to start his own business in 2005. He looked at several food companies before meeting Dr. Michael Murray, who was trying to introduce SweetFiber. ‘I worked with him less than a year, we launched the product and it failed,’ said Taylor, who subsequently bought out his partner and started over from scratch. Their earlier product contained xylitol and tagatose, both artificial sweeteners, but Taylor insisted on producing a natural sweetener. The next issue was the filler. ‘I wanted to make sure that the ingredients would be all natural,’ he said, adding that in the process, he decided to use fiber. ‘I had no idea I was going to become a fiber advocate.’ Taylor explained that fiber has been taken out of most foods, which is contributing to ‘a health crisis in America due to obesity,’ he said. ‘People say that fructose corn syrup is the reason for the obesity. It’s not true. One of the main reasons is that we have stopped eating fiber, while consuming too many processed foods, eating too much and failing to exercise enough. ‘If you eat 25 grams of fiber a day, you’ll avoid weight gain because of the satiated affect,’ Taylor said. One packet of SweetFiber has the same fiber as half a carrot. The other advantage to Taylor’s product is that because of the added chicory root, it can be used in baking. ‘Replacing sugar in baking is hard because sugar serves as a humectant and a bulking agent. It’s one of the most complex food-science problems there is and when I developed this product, I had no idea what I was tackling.’ A downside for some people is that SweetFiber costs about twice as much as artificial sweeteners. In fact, in a survey conducted by Taylor, one-third of the people interviewed admitted they obtained sweetener packets without buying them. Taylor, a Wisconsin native, graduated from Northwestern University with a television/film degree. He spent four years in Chicago working on television commercials, including Wendy’s famous ‘Where’s the beef?’ with Clara Peller, before continuing his business education at Cornell. Upon graduating in 1990, he was hired as a marketing manager for Trident gum. He admits that he tasted gum with artificial sweeteners that hadn’t been approved by the FDA and when he spit it out, it went into a ‘red hazard’ container. With SweetFiber, Taylor doesn’t worry about artificial ingredients or the long-term effects. ‘We’re on the cusp of this whole new way of eating, and SweetFiber is one of those foods that is good for you,’ he said. Taylor and his wife Nancy have lived in the Palisades for 10 years. Their two sons attend Marquez Elementary and New Roads Middle School, and both are active members of Boy Scout Troop 223.