Trehalose is rapidly broken down into glucose by the enzyme trehalase, which is present in the brush border of the intestinal mucosa of omnivores (including humans) and herbivores. It causes less of a spike in blood sugar than glucose.  Trehalose has about 45% the sweetness of sucrose at concentrations above 22%, but when the concentration is reduced, its sweetness decreases more quickly than that of sucrose, so that a 2.3% solution tastes 6.5 times less sweet as the equivalent sugar solution.
It is commonly used in prepared frozen foods, like ice cream, because it lowers the freezing point of foods.
Deficiency of trehalase enzyme is unusual in humans, except in the Greenlandic Inuit, where it occurs in 10–15% of the population.