Social media has become an invaluable resource for product managers looking to stay on track with the latest consumer sentiments and trends. If you’re a product lead in the food and drink industry, you’ll know that topics linked to nutrition, health and wellness are generating some of the biggest conversations online at present.
On TikTok alone, videos tagged #nutrition or similar have attracted some 17 billion views. And while there are justified concerns about the quality of the advice available on platforms like TikTok, what it does prove is that nutrition is a topic the public is very interested in. That’s worth any food brand’s attention.
It’s also a good gauge for where people’s priorities lie as they look to eat more healthily, and following from that, what kind of health messages are cutting through. To that end, it was interesting to see the BBC pick up on the recent TikTok trend for “fibremaxxing” - people posting tips for how they maximise the amount of fibre in their meals, and nutritionist influencers extolling the benefits.
According to the article, videos tagged #fibremaxxing and #fibermaxxing have been viewed 150 million times.
As the exclusive UK and Irish distributor of GOFOSTM, an innovative pre-biotic fibre ingredient that is mildly sweet and half of the calories of sugar, we’ve long been championing the cause of boosting general fibre intake via functional additives. Pre-biotic fibres promote a healthy gut by feeding the ‘good’ bacteria that do so much of the work digesting food for our own bodies. Without enough fibre, we risk the microbiota in our guts becoming imbalanced, with ‘bad’ bacteria outcompeting the good. This doesn’t just lead to digestive issues but can have far reaching negative consequences including increased risks of type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and autoimmune and metabolism issues.
According to health guidelines, adults should consume 25-30g of fibre daily to maintain a healthy gut. Yet modern western diets, with their heavy reliance on processed foods, mean 96% of people fall short of these targets.
The fibremaxxing trend is a highly encouraging signal that messages about the importance of dietary fibre are cutting though. It also suggests there’s a growing market of consumers, particularly Gen Z or younger, who are increasingly receptive to high fibre messaging in the food products they buy.
Pre-biotic ingredients like GOFOSTM offer a perfect way for food brands to capitalise on this interest. GOFOSTM is a complex carbohydrate molecule built from short fructose chains known as a fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), a type of fibre naturally found in plants such as onions, asparagus and banana. FOS molecules cannot be broken down by the human digestive system, hence the classification as fibre. But they do feed our gut microbiota. Non-digestible means only 2 kcal/g. Yet they still perform an important nutritional function.
But the real magic part is that, because of its origin, FOS fibres have a sweetening profile similar to sugar. FOS is around 30% as sweet as ordinary sugar. That makes it perfect for adding fibre to baked goods, snack bars, cereals, even dairy products and smoothies, without compromising taste and without adding calories. And that in turn makes it perfect for capitalising on the fibremaxxing trend - giving consumers products they choose for taste, but with the fibre boost they’re looking for.
Norkem stocks GOFOS in powder and liquid format, in 25kg bags for powder grade and drums, IBCs or bulk road tankers for liquid grade. We also have a selection of 30+ sample recipe sheets available covering a wide range of products. To find out more and discuss supply details, please submit a product enquiry or contact our food and drink sales team.