What we talked about
Ali Wing is the CEO of Oobli, a biotech-powered food company using sweet proteins found in nature to deliver sweetness with far less sugar. In this conversation, Ali explains how certain plant proteins:discovered by scientists and traditionally eaten in regions near the equator:can briefly bind to our sweet taste receptors, telling the brain “we got sugar,” even though they’re proteins, not carbohydrates. That means a very different metabolic impact compared to added sugar.
Show notes
Ali Wing is not anti-sugar:she’s a biologist who will tell you that craving sweetness is “human nature 101,” the evolutionary drive that kept our ancestors alive. What she’s against is the modern food system that has made sugar “recklessly abundant,” and her answer is a class of plant proteins that are a thousand to five thousand times sweeter than sugar by weight, with zero glycemic impact.
What we covered
- Oobli’s sweet proteins work only on humans, apes, and gorillas: they bind briefly to the human taste receptor for sweetness and tell the brain sugar arrived, but because they are proteins and not carbohydrates, their metabolic impact is completely different from any other sweetener ever used in food.
- The average American consumes about three times the daily recommended amount of added sugar:a figure Ali says holds true in Mexico, India, and much of the world:and beverages are the biggest driver, not candy bars, because portion sizes have grown while the sweetness keeps people drinking more.
- Oobli targets 60 to 80 percent sugar reduction in mainstream packaged goods without changing taste profiles, aiming for the “blind taste test” standard: if 19 out of 20 people can’t tell something changed, adoption happens without asking consumers to make a sacrifice.
- Their chocolate bars demonstrate the model: 75 percent less sugar than a typical milk chocolate bar, with a third of the daily fiber per serving:the fiber serving as the bulking agent that replaced sugar’s physical mass, so the bar stays full-size while becoming more nutrient-dense.
- Partnerships with Grupo Bimbo, Mars, and Ingredion (the world’s largest natural sweetener distributor) mean 2026 is the year sweet proteins move from challenger brands into global CPG product lines that reach hundreds of millions of consumers.
- Oobli brews its proteins through fermentation rather than harvesting a difficult tropical crop, which reduces land use, lowers cost, and returns agricultural land to rainforest:the company’s name is inspired by the “oublie” fruit of West Africa, whose local legend says the berries were so sweet villagers forgot their mother’s milk.
About Ali Wing
Ali Wing is the CEO of Oobli, a biotech food company based in Sacramento that produces sweet proteins through fermentation for use in packaged foods and beverages. She also serves on public company boards and advises impact-driven consumer businesses with a focus on the idea that food is health.
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliwing
- Website:
Episode 107 of the PreVetted Podcast.