EU Health Claim On Glycemia Reduction by Non-Digestible Carbohydrates Is Applicable to Tereos’ Actilight Fiber

The health claim, which has been fully authorized since June 20 2016, states that the consumption of foods and drinks containing non-digestible carbohydrates instead of sugars induces a lower blood glucose rise after their consumption compared to sugar-containing foods and drinks.

Non-digestible carbohydrates are neither digested nor absorbed in the small intestine. For the health claim to be applicable, the food and drinks should contain at least 30% less sugars compared to the reference containing sugars.

 

With this new health claim officially approved, food manufacturers using Actilight fiber to reduce sugars by 30% in their recipes, can use health claims such as “stabilises glycemia” or “regulates blood glucose”.

 

Scientific data on glycemia regulation with Actilight
Actilight is a science-based health ingredient with consistent characteristics and reliable health benefits. As it is the most active prebiotic fiber, Actilight has been used in human nutrition, including infant formulae, for more than twenty years.

 

More than 200 studies have demonstrated clear health benefits of Actilight. The health benefits of the usage of Actilight fiber (in partial or total replacement of sugars) to reduce glycemia has been demonstrated in 2 major clinical studies. These studies, published in peer-reviewed journals, demonstrate that recipes using FOS for sugars replacement could lower the blood glucose rise compared to the reference recipes (Lecerf et al., 2015; Respondek et al., 2014). This effect was observed without any increase of insulin blood lever. This condition proves the health benefit, as recommended by the EFSA experts.

 

Easy to use
It is possible to regulate the blood glucose level, and more particularly, to reduce the glycemic response by partially or fully replacing the glycemic sugars in food. For this purpose, it is particularly relevant to use dietary fibers such as Actilight FOS. Actilight fibers are very easy to use for sugars replacement in a wide range of recipes, as they are very soluble, and have rheological properties which are very similar to sugar’s.

 

FOS fibers also taste good. Their sweetness is about 30% compared with the one of sugar, and their organoleptic profile is similar to the one of sugar. They have a flavor enhancer effect on the aroma intensity and mask the aftertaste of intense sweeteners.

 

In order to maintain the sensory properties of food, and notably the sweet taste, Tereos can provide its expertise and know-how, together with a wide range of sweetening ingredients including fibers, polyols and stevia extracts.

 

Tereos plan to continue developing scientific evidence with a focus on 4 main applications:
• Obesity and diabetes: glycemia, glucose tolerance, fat mass reduction
• Gut health: digestive comfort, transit
• Early life nutrition
• Immunity modulation