DFH launches first full line of keto products
DFH is channel specialists that sells more than 350 supplements to healthcare practitioners. The new line features five products based on the low-carb ketogenic model.
Allulose a key to new line
The line is sweetened with allulose, an ultra low calorie natural sugar found naturally in jackfruit and figs that is made commercially from corn via an enzymatic process. Allulose is said to have the bulking properties of sucrose but at a fraction of the calories. The sugar is judged to be about 70% as sweet as sucrose.
A recent ruling by the US Food and Drug Administration to exclude allulose from the “added sugars” callout on the new nutrition facts panels is expected to boost demand for the sugar. Recently, a sweetener expert opined that allulose will the “true game changer.”
Neal Mercado, vice president of marketing for DFH, said allulose was a natural choice for the new product line. Keeping the carbs in line with ketogenic principles while still coming up with a palatable formulation can be a challenge, and some other natural low calorie sweeteners have issues of their own, he said.
“Allulose is a great new sugar from our perspective,” Mercado told NutraIngredients-USA. “It’s a natural sweetener that has no impact on blood glucose levels. It doesn’t have any gastrointestinal issues that some natural sugar alcohols can have.”
“And it doesn’t have any negative taste issues. Sometimes with stevia you can get that bitter aftertaste,” he said.
First full keto line
Mercado said this new line marks a first for DFH.
“It’s our first foray in the keto and fat adaptive space. We have been monitoring the beneficial effects of a ketogenic diet and lifestyle for a long time,” he said.
The idea behind a ketogenic diet is to force the body to adapt to a low carb situation so that it will preferentially switch to using fat (both its own and that which is ingested) for fuel. The approach bears some similarities to the paleo diet, which postulates that the human metabolism evolved in an epoch when simple carbohydrates were rare in the diet, and so the body is not well adapted to consume large quantities of them, which is the norm today.
Whereas some supplements that have ‘keto’ on the label are seeking to provide endogenous ketone supplementation, such as with the relatively short lived craze for raspberry ketones, Mercado said the new DFH line is meant to support the body’s existing systems.
“Rather than introducing the exogenous ketone bodies we have created a range that has the healthy fats that enable your body to produce its own endogenous ketones,” he said.
The products in the new line are:
- KTO-36O Powder: with grass-fed butter, avocado oil, caprylic acid MCTs and collagen.
- KTO-ElectroPure: Magnesium-charged electrolyte concentrate for rapid hydration.
- KTO-C8 100: tasteless and odorless 100% pure caprylic acid (C8) MCTs from Coconut Oil.
- KTO-Bar: a coconut hemp chocolate high fat low carb (HFLC) bar with an Allulose-sweetened base.
- KTO-C8: Chews Allulose-sweetened caprylic acid (C8) MCTs with a strawberry-watermelon flavor.
Sales channels
In addition to selling through healthcare practitioners, DFH recently began to offer its products on Amazon as well, but at a premium over the retail price consumers would pay to a practitioner.
That practice was put into place to try to deal with the unauthorized resale of DFH products on Amazon and other websites, the company said.
