A study has proven that a prebiotic ingredient can increase Bifidobacterium levels in women at a low dose.
FrieslandCampina Ingredients’ Biotis GOS-OP was found to enhance levels of the ‘good’ gut bacteria at the industry’s lowest dosage of 2g and 1.3g.
To determine this, participants were instructed to supplement daily with Biotis for three weeks.
It was found that middle-aged and older women — who are the common target demographic for gut health solutions — benefitted from changes in the gut microbiota from taking Biotis.
Notably, the study participants already had relatively high baseline levels of ‘good’ bacteria in their gut.
As well as the positive impact on gut health, positive trends in wellbeing were observed — with many volunteers experiencing improvements in sleep quality.
Boosting convenience by reducing dosage requirements
Creating nutraceuticals that are bioavailable and efficacious in small doses can be a significant challenge, comments Vicky Davies, Global Marketing Director at FrieslandCampina Ingredients:
“Today’s consumers are busy, so adding a nutritional boost to their diets can be an onerous task. Supplements are a quick and convenient way to add nutrients into the diet, but because of their size, these formats can only accommodate a limited volume of ingredients.”
“This means a single serving can often require multiple supplements to be taken at once. Over half of the gummy supplements available on the market require two to be consumed to meet the required dose.”
“In the women’s health space, as much as 20% of products have a serving size of four gummies. By increasing the bioavailability of a nutraceutical ingredient within a supplement, consumers can easily incorporate healthy ingredients into their diet.”
Therefore, FrieslandCampina wanted to overcome this problem with their patent-pending process, explains Vicky: “Our Biotis GOP-OP High Purity can deliver a higher concentration of available GOS, ensuring a typical galacto-oligosaccharide content of 94% — which is significantly higher than the typical range for other prebiotics currently available on the market.”
Biotics on trend for women’s health
Women’s health is a booming subset of the nutraceutical industry, so developing biotic solutions for this demographic can offer many great opportunities, Vicky states:
“Prebiotics can offer specific benefits to women, as research suggests that the prevalence of digestive health issues — particularly IBS and constipation — is higher in this group of consumers.”
“To cater to this unmet need, ongoing scientific research focused on women’s health is crucial. Exploring this element will help the industry to create targeted solutions that address their unique needs, ultimately improving both digestive health and overall wellness.”
Prebiotics for gut and mental health
Although prebiotics are widely recognised for their benefits to our gut health and mental wellbeing, dosing has been a significant industry challenge.
Vicky believes that the findings of this study offers new innovation opportunities in the nutraceutical industry: “This study has shown that consumption of Biotis GOS-OP High Purity at doses as low as 1.3g can have beneficial effects on the gut microbiome and sleep quality via the gut-brain axis.”
“This is an exciting result, as it uncovers novel opportunities for those in the dietary supplement industry — particularly to reduce the number of servings needed to deliver a scientifically-backed dose of prebiotics for optimal health benefits.”