Syral Addresses Relation Between Nutrition and the Consumer

Wording has been shown to have a significant influence on the consumer's understanding and interest and must therefore be chosen carefully. In the case of gut health claims, communication must be adjusted to the targeted consumer's culture.

02/10/08 “Today SYRAL supports a better understanding of the relations between nutrition and health benefits for the consumer,” emphasises Daniel Cochet, SYRAL's Marketing Manager, during the conclusion of the ACTI-Day 2008 Conference held in Paris on 25 September. SYRAL is a European leading producer of food ingredients such as starch, starch-sweeteners, proteins and prebiotic fibres In Europe. Daniel Cochet adds to his conclusion: “We are therefore further investing in scientific research, as the European Commission requires demonstration and substantial arguments in order to add a health claim to food products for the consumer.” This is a great opportunity for the food industry. The success of this very innovative functional and nutritional food market highly depends on new scientific discoveries.

Growing market in Europe
“Global sales of health and wellness foods were worth EUR 60 billion in 2006, and are expected to increase a further 21% by 2010,” explains Kath Veal, Business Manager of Regulatory Services at Leatherhead Food International (UK). “65% of consumers in Europe and the US are taking more active steps towards eating more healthily. Many are switching from dieting to maintaining healthier eating habits for weight loss.” Obesity and diet-related illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer, are amongst the main drivers for innovation and product development. By 2011, 35% of European children will be overweight. Health claim evaluations are now underway and the European Food Safety Authority is assisting the Commission with nutrient profiles, which are expected on 19 January 2009 and which will be hugely significant for product positioning by health and nutrition claims. Not only do products and health claims have to be functional and in compliance with the law, the consumer must also be able to understand the beneficial effects as expressed in nutrition and health claims.

Wording of health claims
Wording has been shown to have a significant influence on the consumer's understanding and interest and must therefore be chosen carefully. Céline Hurson, Communication Engineer at SYRAL, confirms that in the case of gut health claims, communication must be adjusted to the targeted consumer's culture. Health claims on prebiotic and gut health functionalities of foodstuffs greatly differ per country. Focusing on SYRAL's Actilight short-chain FOS fibre, the impact of four scientifically proven health claims on consumers’ interest and their intention to buy were evaluated: prebiotic effect, improved intestinal conditions, increased mineral absorption and lipids metabolism. Women are more interested in these effects than men and interest seems to grow with age, particularly in lipids metabolism. In a second step focused on “prebiotic effect” and “improved intestinal conditions” claims, different wordings were evaluated so that we could compare these and define the most popular ones per country. In the UK, wordings referring to “friendly bacteria” are the most popular ones, whilst in Germany, wordings that include “fibres” or “prebiotics” are preferred. In France, Italy and in The Netherlands, consumers prefer wordings such as the “gut flora” and its “balance”, rather than terms like prebiotics or bifidogenic properties. SYRAL must take these results into account as to further enhance the impact of health claims. SYRAL works closely with customers on the issue of health claims.

Nutritional profiling
The main challenges for product development in order to improve the nutritional profile are a good taste, a safe and natural product, and a simular price range as the traditional products. Fewer calories can be achieved in most foods by reducing the sugar and/or fat contents and by using digestible or non-digestible (fibres) high molecular weight carbohydrates and polyols, such as sorbitol and maltitol. Products that respond to the consumer's concern of maintaining a healthy weight are, for instance, alternative snacks that are lower in calories, whilst ensuring that one feels satisfied until the next regular and balanced meal. Diets consisting of high protein foods have a positive impact on satiety by enhancing the feeling of fullness and thus increasing the delay of the next snack. Protein intake helps to sustain weight maintenance. Carole Midon, based in Marckolsheim (France), and Virginia Millán, based in Saragossa (Spain), both from SYRAL Technical Support, discuss specific product formulations. High proteins cereals bars with at least 20% of energy coming from protein, as defined by EU regulation 1924/2006, can be formulated by using MERIPRO, a highly soluble wheat protein. Part of the glucose-fructose syrup and the cereals blends are substituted by vegetable proteins. This substitution does not effect the texture, hardness or the tasting panel evaluations. Products formulated with MERIPRO therefore do not only promote satiety, but can also enable a decrease in sugar content when compared with common snacks. In isotonic sports drinks, more than 20% of calories can be provided by MERIPRO, allowing claims on proteins enrichment.

The addition of Actilight to a fruit smoothie recipe allows for claims on both fibre enrichment and prebiotic effect. The production process does not induce scFOS hydrolysis. The tasting panel evaluation of the products does not show differences in sweetness, acidity, flavour or texture. The global evaluation of the product with Actilight came out as the best choice. One may conclude that SYRAL's challenge of producing good tasting products that meet the dietary guidelines has been met.

From nutrition to health
SYRAL promotes research in order to gain a better understanding of the effects of SYRAL's ingredients on health. In a presentation about metabolic syndrome and its prevention, Dr. Jean-Michel Lecerf from the Institut Pasteur in Lille reveals results on the fact that diet and lifestyle have a higher effect on the reduction of the risk of type II diabetes than drugs. The mechanism of action of functional ingredients, such as fructo-oligosaccharides, can now be investigated with new tools such as nutrigenomics, explains Dr. Jean-Charles Martin from INSERM (France). Such an innovative method was used by Frédérique Respondek from SYRAL Scientific Affairs (pictured) to demonstrate the effect of fructo-oligosaccharides on the regulation of gene expression, including genes linked to insulin sensitivity. Previously, she had already demonstrated the positive effect of FOS on insulin sensitivity in obese dogs.

With the prospect of obesity and type II diabetes prevention, appetite regulation is one of the hottest topics today. Appetite regulation is basically controlled by glucose oxidation in the brain, explains Prof. Marc Fantino from the University of Burgundy, but this phenomenon is notably influenced by lipids and proteins, which are involved in hormonal and nervous regulation pathways. It is well-known that proteins have a greater impact on satiety regulation than lipids and carbohydrates. Prof. Daniel Tomé from AgroParisTech explains the results that demonstrate the efficiency of proteins as satiety enhancers, along with their subsequent effect on weight loss. He also points out that the effect of protein may be different, depending on the sources. This is valuable information for SYRAL, whose range of highly digestible wheat proteins is thought to be efficient in this perspective.

Nutrition also has a great impact on enhancing natural defenses, especially on the youngest and oldest populations, according to Prof. Philip Calder from the University of Southampton and he shows examples of studies using prebiotics. SYRAL also investigates the association of its ingredients with other functional ingredients, notably in the symbiotic association of prebiotics and probiotics. Prof. Robert Rastall from the University of Reading presents a new in vitro model that allows for an evaluation of this synergy, including the results on the positive impact of prebiotics on probiotics survival in yoghurts during storage. He concludes that the specific effects of synbiotics and their technological properties should be further investigated.