Cargill Helps Food Manufacturers Incorporate Oliggo-Fiber Inulin to Develop Products that Supporting Good Digestive Health

The digestive health benefits of inulin have been studied extensively in the industry. Oliggo-Fiber inulin is selectively fermented by beneficial bacteria naturally present in the large intestine.

8 Jul 2010 --- At the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Food Expo, July 18-20 in Chicago, Cargill will demonstrate how food manufacturers can take products that support good digestive health beyond the yogurt case. Specifically, Cargill will showcase a simple pureed soup that incorporates a natural, soluble dietary fiber source, Oliggo-Fiber inulin. This ingredient is a prebiotic fiber that helps promote digestive health by stimulating the normal, beneficial bacteria in the colon.

"Digestive health is an important consumer trend that many of our customers want to address," said Deborah Schulz, product manager, Cargill Health & Nutrition. According to Schulz, about one-third of Americans suffer from some form of digestive problem. Forty percent of Americans look for foods and beverages that improve digestive health, and 78 percent are interested in fiber for digestive health. In addition, 37 percent of people worldwide who are aware of probiotics and prebiotics trust health benefit claims made for them.

"Yogurt continues to be a popular digestive health-related product, but there is growing interest in other categories, such as baked goods, cereals and snacks," said Schulz. She further discusses the topic on the Cargill Innovation Exchange.

In these other categories, one of the big challenges with probiotics is their heat sensitivity to typical manufacturing processes. Oliggo-Fiber inulin is a well-recognized prebiotic with excellent heat stability, which allows food manufacturers to deliver digestive health benefits to consumers in innovative and shelf-stable products, such as soup.

In addition, there has been a 67 percent increase in products with the word "simple" or "simply" in the name in recent years. According to Wade Schmelzer, principal food scientist, Cargill Health & Nutrition, Oliggo-Fiber inulin is a perfect fit for digestive health and the simple, clean label positioning of the pureed soup Cargill is featuring at IFT 2010.

"Inulin is a natural, soluble dietary fiber from the chicory root, which can be simply labeled as chicory root extract," said Schmelzer. "The digestive health benefits of inulin have been studied extensively in the industry. Oliggo-Fiber inulin is selectively fermented by beneficial bacteria naturally present in the large intestine. Those bacteria, in turn, are important for maintaining a healthy digestive tract and may also help support the immune system."

Equally important, Oliggo-Fiber inulin has excellent versatility in food applications without changing flavor or texture. "As a result, we've created a great-tasting, simple pureed soup with natural ingredients that appeals to the growing digestive consumer health trend," said Schmelzer.