Miracle Berry Fruit: Psychedelics For Your Taste Buds

The Miracle Berry Fruit

A couple weeks ago, with the help of the interwebz, I discovered a fairly new trend in the culinary realms that have been using of a little West African Berry called the Miracle berry (Synsepalum dulcificum). Apparently aboriginal cultures in West Africa have been using these berries to spruce up their rather bland diets, but how?

How Miracle Berries Work:

Miracle Berries contain a glycoprotein known as miraculin.^[1][2] When eaten, this molecule binds to your tongue’s taste buds and causes sour foods to taste sweet.

According to Wikipedia:

“At neutral pH, miraculin binds and blocks the receptors, but at low pH (resulting from ingestion of sour foods) miraculin binds protons and becomes able to activate the sweet receptors, resulting in the perception of sweet taste.^[3] This effect lasts until the protein is washed away by saliva (up to about 60 minutes).^[4]”

Taste Test:

Below is a video review I did of the Miracle berry tablets I ordered off Amazon.

I tried many different foods (all of which I had to calculate into my Macros for the day as to not mess up my summer diet)

I bought Miracle Frooties brand but there are also mBerry tablets and an Miracle Berry asian brand tablets all of which can be purchased off ebay for 15-20 bucks.

mBerry’s website (here) also sells 5 fresh Miracle Berries for 10.00 bucks plus shipping.

Can the Miracle Berry Fruit Benefit Fat Loss?

The Miracle berry itself is rather LOW in calories and when the pulp is dehydrated and combined with potato starch to make the tablets the calories are insignificant. IF one can use the miracle berry to enhance the flavours in recipes while REDUCING their caloric intake through less sugar and carbohydrates then it MAY be useful for fat loss and weight management.

Most fat loss supplements that make a very small percentage difference tend to burn more holes in your pockets than fat around your waist. Miracle Berry tablets cost around $1.70-2.00 or less. This is not extremely high and is equal or less than some fat loss supplements on the market. In theory this would cost an extra 8-10 dollars a day if you’re eating 4-5 meals a day. By adding more lemon and citrus foods as well as vinegars to ones recipes/meals you can increase sweetness and flavour without adding a lot of extra calories. There is actually a Miracle Berry Diet Cook Book designed by Homaro Cantu which you can be purchased off Amazon here. Sugar might not be the devil like this book leads on BUT it does contain significant calories and not much in the way of micronutrients. Each tablet lasts around 30-60 minutes + depending on the person and the rate of miraculin wash out  which is enough for one meal sit down.

Can I grow Miracle Berries?

There are a few websites out there, including mBerry, where you can actually buy the Miracle Berry plant. Prices depend on the maturity of the plant.

A Canadian website here, sells small plants for 10 bucks BUT these plants take 2 years to start fruiting the actual berries. They sell a one year waiting plant for $60 and a READY to fruit plant for $90. They also sell 10 Seeds for 15 bucks but you can also get seeds from Amazon for about a dollar each.

Conclusion:

The Miracle Berry Fruit works as advertised and literally changes sour foods into sweet tasting foods. Its fun to try and may be useful as a natural sweetener and meal flavour enhancer for fat loss and weight management. HOWEVER it may not be that practical or economical when you can use other natural sweeteners like stevia to sweeten foods.

After all you could always just eat LESS calories from carbohydrates and fats, and maintain a high protein diet but I digress.

Disclaimer: I am not at all affiliated with any miracle berry company or product. I just found the product and idea very interesting to try and thought that some of my clients and readers could benefit from using them to manage their fat loss goals.

References:

1. McCurry, Justin (2005-11-25). “Miracle berry lets Japanese dieters get sweet from sour”. London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
2. Balko, Radley (2007-02-08). “Free the Miracle Fruit!”. Reason Magazine. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
3. Koizumi, Ayako. “Human Sweet Taste Receptor Mediates Acid-induced Sweetness of Miraculin”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
4. Park, Madison (March 25, 2009). “Miracle fruit turns sour things sweet”. CNN. Retrieved 2009-03-25.