
Show HN: Next-gen sweetener that removes willpower from healthy eating - Dgetman
https://www.miracle-nutrition.com/
======
Dgetman
Hello HN! Palate Pal is a next-generation natural sweetener that not only
sweetens foods, but also enhances flavor. It doesn't have any
bitter/"chemical" aftertaste like all other alternative sweeteners and also a
single serving will last you 30-60 minutes REGARDLESS of how much food you eat
with it.

It is made from miracle fruit. This fruit has been used for centuries by
tribes in Western Africa to make their food more delicious. It contains a
protein that safely and temporarily binds to your tastebuds to make sour foods
taste sweet as well as remove unpleasant bitter and tart flavors. For
instance, bite into a lemon and it will taste like lemonade. It allows you to
discover flavors previously masked by those unpleasant tastes. A strawberry
tastes even more "strawberry" and a plain greek yogurt now tastes much more
creamy.

It is the first miracle fruit product that is convenient for daily use.
Whereas competing products take 5-10 minutes to dissolve, mine takes 10
seconds to dissolve and contains only NATURAL ingredients. I believe miracle
fruit has the potential to take willpower out of the equation of a healthy
diet by making nutritious foods taste as indulgent as the junk foods that are
otherwise killing us. No one has the patience to wait 5 minutes in the morning
while they are rushing to school or work, so I knew this is what needed to be
changed in order for miracle berry to go mainstream.

Please check out my website for more information and demos. Use the code "HN"
at checkout for 10% off.

Feel free to ask me anything!

~~~
thaumasiotes
I've heard about miracle fruit. Specifically, I've heard that the reason it's
not already commercialized is, as you say, that it converts sour flavors to
sweet -- leading people to overconsume acid (the cause of sourness) and take
physical damage from the acid exposure. Miracle fruit can make you believe
drinking a bottle of vinegar is a good idea, but it won't make it actually a
good idea.

Have you heard of this? What are your thoughts? This sounds like willpower
would still be an issue, but if you mess up you scar your throat / dissolve
your teeth instead of gaining weight.

~~~
JKCalhoun
> that it converts sour flavors to sweet

Does it? My experience tasting it, seemed more like a sour inhibitor. The
sweet you tasted was what was left when the sour was removed. Turns out lemons
are indeed sweet.

But that was merely my non-scientific, anecdotal impression.

~~~
Dgetman
I've spoken with the leading expert and it does indeed create the perception
of sweetness where there once was not. The enhanced sweetness, however does
inhibit the bitterness and enhances flavor. That is why you begin to pick up
flavors you previously did not in something like a strawberry, tea, or IPA.

------
caiobegotti
How does it compare in aftertaste and smell to Erythritol and Sucralose?

What is the GI value of this?

What are the temperature limits for consumption without messing up with
flavors and your health?

I've been using Sucralose for years and I'm quite happy with it and it's
cheap, sweet and taste great enough for me to consider changing sweetener in
my keto diet. Why do you think I should change it to this product?

~~~
Dgetman
1) No aftertaste! Prove me wrong and I'll venmo you back

2) There's hardly any sugar in this product because it is so potent. GI
basically 0. Some research shows that it may even improve your insulin
response.

3)The protein is fairly heat stable. I'd say that whatever food you put in
your mouth without scorching it is safe enough for the protein so you should
be safe enough. I ran an experiment at 60°C for an hour and a half and it
still worked.

4)Sooooo many reasons. This is a next-generation sweetener. It is summarized
on my benefits page but to put it here:

• 1 serving lasts your 30-60 minutes regardless of how much food you eat. It
actually saves me time in the morning because isntead of putting and stirring
honey into my tea and yogurt, I just consume Palate Pal and in 10 seconds I'm
good to go

•This doesn't just sweeten, it enhances flavor. You literally pick up on
flavors that you before couldn't notice. The cream and vanilla in yogurt,
intense flavor in an otherwise bland "dud" strawberry, the floral notes of an
IPA.

•There is a lot of concerning research on artificial sweeteners like
sucralose. You've heard the BS on cancer but the really scary thing is that it
changes the bacteria in your gut to upregulate pathways that promote obesity,
diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

•And yeah, maybe you don't mind the taste but lots of people seem to. If I
haven't convinced you to give it a try by now, then sorry :(

------
thelazydogsback
I really thought the site was some kind of joke -- it was hard to tell what
the message was. What I really don't understand is that healthy food already
tastes good -- I'm not sure what foods they are trying to "modify" with their
product.

As far as I can tell, Xylitol is just about perfect -- no aftertaste, and
actually good for your teeth! (Erythritol is even less caloric and pretty good
too.) Unfortunately, there aren't that many sodas, etc., that use it. Monk
Fruit and Stevia are "natural" and super-sweet, but have a strong after-taste.

~~~
Dgetman
Yeah sorry I'm not great at design. 1 man team here. I am looking to rebrand
with an agency when I have the funds to do so. This is just an MVP, but I
appreciate your feedback and will iterate on the messaging.

Touched on my point in the last sentence - lots of sweeters don't taste quite
right. The point you make on xylitol is interesting, but still there are other
benefits to the product that are unique 1)the flavor enhancing 2)the time
saved by not stirring and the fact that it works on your taste buds rather
than the food.

Everyone has their preferences, but your taste is malleable. A lot of people
are used to eating lots of sugar so what you may find sweet is not enough for
them. This is a healthy way to make those foods appealing to them. There's a
really crazy statistic: while 63% of Americans say they try to eat healthy
most or all of the time, 85% admit they give in to over half of their cravings
for indulgent foods. Imagine what could happen to obesity if people could feed
their temptations with healthy food by using miracle fruit.

~~~
thelazydogsback
Thanks for the reply.

> healthy way to make those foods appealing to them

I still don't get it though -- what are examples of "those foods" that are
unappealing that you will make palatable?

~~~
Dgetman
My nephew for instance refuses to eat vegetables and greek yogurt/kefir makes
him gag. My sister struggles to get him to eat anything but pasta and chicken
nuggets. They used my product and now he eats yogurt, tomatoes, broccoli,
fish, soup, etc. Best way to understand is to see it in action:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLmeCbotvYI&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLmeCbotvYI&feature=youtu.be)

~~~
flipchart
But does he still have to use your product? Although it’s better for him to
have a more varied diet I thought kids mostly grew out of this fussiness. It
would be terrible if he became dependent on your product into adulthood.

~~~
Dgetman
Hard to extrapolate here since I don't have too much data, I hear you though.
But yes, I am shocked that he still uses the product 6 months later (product-
market fit?). As bad as it would be to reliant on my product, I'd rather have
him eating greek yogurt and vegetables than sugary shit so not a bad
sacrifice.

When it comes down to it, is it a dependency or brand loyalty? Think of all
the brands we are "dependent" on and how it is normalized to buy an iphone
every few years or a pint of ice cream every week, for instance.

------
slg
If this product is everything you say, is there a reason you are selling this
directly to consumers for $20 a pop instead of talking to the PepsiCos and
Kraft Foods of the world?

~~~
Dgetman
They would never take me seriously with 0 sales. I plan to apply to PepsiCo's
accelerator but they only look at companies with $1M+ sales. Help me get to
the scale where I can!

As a matter of fact, my competitor which is making GMO miraculin just raised
$6.9M from Kraft 3 weeks ago. Me thinks there be potential here....

~~~
cvhashim
Looks like a cool product. Do you offer samples? I think I’ll buy to try if
not. Also just want to say your website needs a bit of work and this is after
all Hackernews so pm me if you need a developer ;).

~~~
Dgetman
I'm a one man army and making these packets by hand. Honestly shocked by the
response :D I'll just venmo you if you don't like it how about that?

shoot me an email daniel.getman@miracle-nutrition.com

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pmdulaney
Suppose for the sake of argument that it really does taste the same as sugar,
and with no aftertaste. Hasn't there been research showing that something that
_tastes_ sweet causes an insulin reaction the same as sugar does?

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7014832/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7014832/)

~~~
Dgetman
You are correct, tricking your mind doesn't trick your insulin...normally.

There are several studies showing that miracle fruit can actually improve
blood glucose levels. Thus it could be more beneficial to diabetics than using
any other sweetener that, as you said, may strain their condition even worse.

~~~
pmdulaney
"You are correct, tricking your mind doesn't trick your insulin...normally"

If you thought I was correct you should have written: "You are correct,
tricking the mind often tricks insulin response also."

I wish you well with this endeavor; it will be a win-win for all involved if
it tastes good _and_ is healthy from a metabolic standpoint. But in my view it
remains to be seen.

~~~
Dgetman
Yes correct. That's why I'm not pushing that research until there is a real
clinical trial. I think incentivizing eating healthy is a good start
nonetheless.

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t0mbstone
As someone who recently had a kidney stone, my doctor recommended that I drink
half a cup of lemon juice every day (as part of a kidney stone prevention
diet).

I have been making lemonade every day, but none of the artificial sweeteners
taste good, so I have been using sugar. I'm curious how well this miracle
berry would work if it was used to sweeten lemonade?

I'm also curious about the health risks?

~~~
Dgetman
Very interesting. Sorry to hear about that. What is very interesting about
lemon juice is that even though it is acidic, when your body processes it it
becomes basic.

Lemon juice is literally the ideal example. Check out all my demos starting at
#2. You can eat the lemons straight up and they taste like the best lemonade
you've ever had.

No health risks besides maybe consuming too much acid in one sitting (but
seems like that is doctor's orders for you). Coca Cola ran a study in November
2019 and showed no long term side effects neither to your taste buds nor to
your body.

[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02786...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278691519305526#:~:text=Miraculin%20was%20shown%20to%20be,an%20in%20vitro%20digestibility%20assay.&text=Overall%2C%20the%20results%20of%20this,associated%20with%20any%20safety%20concerns).

~~~
klyrs
Coke is quite bad for your teeth, and lemons especially so.

~~~
Dgetman
I agree. There are milder examples though that you eat anyways such as coffee,
straw/blue/raspberries, greek yogurt, and dark chocolate. Miracle fruit works
with all these foods too, not just extremely sour ones. In fact, the flavor
enhancing is most prominent in these mildly acidic foods.

------
Dgetman
Hey guys thanks for the insane response! I'll ship out the orders ASAP but
please be aware it will take around 5-10 business days to arrive due to Covid.

------
perilunar
Serious question: does it make semen taste better?

~~~
Dgetman
Damn I guess I have good news for girls:
[https://www.healthline.com/health/womens-health/vaginal-
ph-b...](https://www.healthline.com/health/womens-health/vaginal-ph-
balance#normal-ph)

------
shitloadofbooks
Even though it's based on the Miracle Fruit, the name/domain "Miracle
Nutrition made me immediately and strongly suspect this was a scam.

The Wordpress site with a fairly mediocre design and then the shop having the
text "This is where you can add new products to your store." doesn't help
either.

~~~
Dgetman
Yeah haha it is an MVP (classic YC move). I just got an investor and we're
rebranding but all my stickers are miracle-nutrition. Hopefully it will look
more professional and trustworthy when the pros take the reins here.

~~~
derision
What's your background?

~~~
Dgetman
I graduated summa cum laude from Duke University in 2019 with a BS in
Neuroscience. I was pre-med and planning on medical school but the more I got
a taste for entrepreneurship the more I knew becoming a physician wasn't for
me. Why spend your day helping 10 patients when you can reach across the globe
and make a positive impact on the habits of millions of people through a
product.

