Improving the nutrient profiles of

foods:Challenges and

Solutions Sarah Chapman – Campden

BRI

• Why improve the nutrient profile of products?

• Reducing Sugar• Reducing Fat (saturated and total)• Reducing Salt• Conclusions

Why improve products nutrient profiles?

• Growing obesity crisis and increasing health service cost • On going government pressure to reduce energy density, saturated fat and salt• New labelling regulations requiring nutritional information on all foods• Likely introduction of nutrient profile compliance in order to make a nutrient or health claim

What are nutrient profiles?• The 2006 Regulation on nutrition and health

claims – outlines criteria for making a nutrition or a health claim

• To bear this claim the product will need to have appropriate nutrient profile

• Nutrient profiles have not yet been agreed • They are likely to be based on maximum levels of

sugar, saturated fat and salt• They will be food category specific

Sugar• Sugars– term for nutritive sweeteners – 4kcal/g

– Includes fructose, glucose, liquid sweeteners such as honey and agave syrup.

– Sucrose – gold standard for sweetness– Provides a clean sweet taste– Contributes to viscosity and mouth feel– Is caramelised by heat– Has good solubility– Reduces Water Activity and can extend shelf life

Replacing/reducing sugar• Change of sweetness profile

– Lingering sweetness– Detection of undesirable flavours

• Changes in flavour and aroma• Decrease in viscosity or difference in mouth

feel/texture – hardness, stickiness, melting characteristics

• Less browning during baking• Reduction in shelf life in some applications

Approaches to reducing sugar• Artificial high potency sweeteners – aspartame,

sucralose, acesulfame K, saccharin• Natural high potency sweeteners – thaumatin and

steviol glycosides• Bulk low calorie sweeteners – sugar alcohols/polyols• Bulking agents/fibres – inulin, fructo-

oligosaccharides, polydextrose and dextrins• Addition of hydrocolloids or starches to improve

mouth feel

New Approaches to reducing sugar

• Sweet taste modulators and sweet aromas – enhancing sweetness– Senomyx and flavour houses

• Multiple emulsion technology– Water/oil/water emulsions– Potential to reduce sugar but have processing

stability issues

New Approaches to reducing sugar• Pulsation induced taste enhancement

– Perceived sweetness intensity increased with the size of contrast in sucrose concentration

– (Mosca AC, van de Velde F, Bult JHF, van Boekel MAJS, Stieger M. Enhancement of sweetness intensity in gels by inhomogeneous distribution of sucrose. Food Quality and Preference 2010;21:837-842.)

• New natural intense sweeteners– Lo han guo (monk fruit) – has GRAS approval in US– Brazzein and Monatin - no safety or regulatory

approvals

Benefits of fat in foods• Function will vary in different applications• Mouth-feel and texture• Carry, enhance and release flavours• Colour – lipid soluble pigments• Solidity (saturated) • Reduced oxidation (saturated)• Emulsion stability and aeration

Problems with reducing fat

• Reduced consumer acceptability (due to preference for fat associated aromas, flavours and textures)

• Considerable reformulation to achieve acceptable sensory properties and shelf life

• Potential cost increases• Changed heating patterns

Approaches to removing fat• Remove/Reduce

– Leaner meat cuts– Reduced fat ingredients– Reduce oil uptake during frying

• Replace– Water/air– Fat replacers– Fibres– Replacement often requires several ingredients

Fat Reduction – ingredient approaches• Protein based fat mimics – based on whey, soy,

egg – e.g. Simplesse™• Carbohydrate fat mimics – based on starch or

modified starch e.g. N-Dulge™FR• Fibre based fat mimics – dextrins, gums, inulin,

polydextrose• Fat-based substitutes - less than 9kcal/g act to

reduce the absorption of fat– Salatrim, Capreinin, and sucrose polyesters

Fat Reduction – processing technologies• Cryogenic crystallisation – small fat crystals• Removal of fat from ingredients – Solvent

extraction (cocoa), Super critical fluid extraction (cheese)

• Emulsions – Water in oil in water (WOW)– Water in oil emulsions – work at Campden BRI on

alginate water gel and sunflower oil emulsion

Reduced both total and saturated fat

Reducing fat uptake during frying• Pre-treating products before frying – for

example drying, sweet treatment, warm oil blanching

• Coating products with barrier films– reduce fat uptake moisture loss – hydrocolloid

gums and protein coatings

• Modified Frying – Vacuum frying– Vacuum draining after frying

Salt ReductionFood Products Taste Texture Preservation

Ready meals ++ ++Bread ++ ++ +

Meat products (processed)

++ ++ ++

Processed fish + ++Soup ++

Pickled vegetables

+ ++

Savoury sauces ++Cheese ++ + +Crisps ++

Breakfast cereals + ++Condiments ++ +

Current approaches for salt reduction (taste) • Reduction by Stealth

– gradual reduction used by many food manufacturers

• Salt Substitutes – KCl based• Salt Enhancers – yeast extracts, flavours, seaweed

based ingredients• Using salty aromas to enhance salt perception • Changing the structure of the salt crystal – Soda-lo™• Pulsed delivery of salt can enhance perception

Conclusions• Significant reduction of sugar, fat and salt is

challenging• More difficult where 2 or more of these need

replacing• Growing number of both ingredient and

processing options• Some approaches still at lab scale• Approaches must be application specific• A tool box approach is recommended

Brainstorming Exercise• Aim 1: To capture your current challenges of

reducing sugar, fat or salt • Aim 2: To identify potential reduction

solutionsFrom results to identify areas where pre-

competitive research could be beneficialScope up possible project

Thank You

For more information please contact:

Email: sarah.chapman@foodhealthinnovation.com Phone: 01386 842212

Web: www.foodhealthinnovation.com