Formulating Fiber-Rich Foods (Seeking Fiber-Rich Foods: Only Excellent Sources Apply)

Registered dieticians from around the world gathered in Chicago in late October at the annual American Dietetics Association (ADA) Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo. A number of issues joined obesity on center stage, including how to best educate consumers on the importance of increasing their fiber intake.

Research suggests that obesity and fiber are inversely related. Weight goes down when fiber intake goes up. The theory is that high-fiber diets provide bulk, which satiates and assists in reducing caloric intake.

“Research suggests that people who eat more fiber tend to have healthier body weights,” says Suzanne Skapyak, a registered dietitian at the General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition, Minneapolis. Boosting the fiber content of foods is one way food companies are trying to help Americans slim down.

Functional fiber ingredients

So, just what is fiber? Too often, fiber is described as a nutrient. But, to be a nutrient, the body must absorb nutrition, and it absorbs nothing from fiber. Since it passes through the body unabsorbed, it is best described as a food constituent.

As defined by the Institute of Medicine in 2001, fiber includes nondigestible carbohydrates; carbohydrates that are not recovered by alcohol precipitation, but are resistant to human enzymes; lignin; and resistant starch. Fiber that occurs naturally and is intact in foods is referred to as dietary fiber. Nondigestible carbohydrates with beneficial physiological effects that are added to foods after being isolated or extracted from natural sources, or sometimes synthesized, are classified as functional fiber.

To illustrate, whole grains are a source of dietary fiber. Inulin and oligosaccharides, ingredients typically extracted from chicory root, and short-chain fructooligosaccharides (scFOS), derived from beet or cane sugar, are examples of functional fibers.

“Oligofructose is available as a liquid syrup with fiber contents ranging from 85% to 95%,” says Joseph O’Neill, executive vice president sales and marketing, BENEO-Orafti, Morris Plains, NJ. “Inulin is a dispersible white powder and ranges from 85% to 95% fiber content.

“Typical usage rates for inulin and oligofructose range from 2% to 5%, depending on the application and the benefits desired,” says O’Neill. In addition to providing fiber, functional fibers such as inulin and fructooligosaccharides can be used as a fat replacer or sugar replacer, respectively.

Non-traditional applicants welcome

Historically, functional-fiber ingredients were based on cellulose from plants and were about as palatable as ground-up tree bark. Formulators were limited to adding such fibers to bakery applications, as flour and other grains helped mask their unpalatability. However, thanks to advancements in ingredient technology and application efforts by food manufacturers, functional-fiber ingredients are enriching other foods, too.