Gut health is a red-hot trend not just in nutritionist circles these days, but in general food and drink production, too. It stems from growing awareness about the impact of diet on public health, and in particular the dazzling range of health benefits that promoting gut-friendly diets can bring.
There are good guys and bad guys in the story. In the bad guy camp we find a trio of usual suspects – sugar, salt and fat. In the good guy corner, the champions of gut health are so-called ‘biotics’, pre- and pro-biotic ingredients that promote and regulate a healthy gut biome, which can be likened to keeping the body’s engine (and how it consumes fuel in particular) finely tuned, clean and problem-free.
These vital jigsaw pieces for healthy gut regulation include dietary fibres like GOFOS, the plant-derived fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) food additive that Norkem supplies as a superior alternative to inulin.
Over the past five years, we’ve seen demand for GOFOS soar in line with the gut health trend as it provides a sweet (50% the sweetness of natural sugar), zero-calorie, pre-biotic alternative to natural sugar. It can be used in energy bars, bakery, cereals, chocolate and dairy and non-dairy products, delivering the double benefit of reducing conventional sugar content and increasing dietary fibre intake – a change in eating habits that is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer, among many other benefits.
Sugar tax on food?
These are excellent reasons for food producers to take an interest in GOFOS and other biotics. But the threat of another instrument of persuasion still looms over the industry – the extension of the Sugar Tax.
In its present form, the Sugar Tax is a levy targeted at the beverage industry only, for products that contain added sugar. But there have been persistent calls for this to be extended to food manufacturers. One recent report from the University of Reading argued that voluntary measures introduced by food producers, such as prominently displaying nutritional information on packaging, had failed to shift consumption habits enough to persuade manufacturers to significantly reduce the amount of sugar and salt in processed foods. Based on the example of the beverage industry, extending the Sugar Tax would do just that.
But what food producers know full well is that the general public won’t tolerate their foods tasting different (and more to the point, worse) just because it is healthy for them. To put it bluntly, people expect their sweet foods to be sweet. That’s why GOFOS and similar complex fibres built from fructose molecules represent such a huge opportunity. They solve three problems in one go – less sugar, more fibre and they still taste good.
When this message gets through to policymakers, it is surely only a matter of time before the Sugar Tax is extended to foodstuffs. It won’t just be a stick to push producers into cutting sugar content – it will also serve as a carrot to switching to pre-biotic alternatives that deliver other health goals, too.
In the meantime, here at Norkem we are continuing to actively explore opportunities to add other pre-, pro- and post-biotic products to our range so we can effectively meet what we anticipate will be booming demand in the coming years.
If you would like to learn more about GOFOS or our bourgeoning biotic range, please contact our Food & Drink sales team.