The key is using a waste product that manufacturers would normally discard: sugar-filled water from food and beverage producers, like breweries.
Early in the pandemic, when her mother was diagnosed with prediabetes, chemical engineer Michelle Ruiz wondered how she could help make the life change easier, as her parents struggled to figure out how to adjust their diets. “We’re from Ecuador, and we found that all the foods that are most culturally embedded in our daily lives are packed with refined carbohydrates that would make my mom’s diabetes worse,” she says.
