According to the results of INCA 3, a study about the food consumption and habits of the French population published by the ANSES (French National Agency for Food, environment and work safety) in July 2017, fibre uptake (20 g per day in average for adults) appears too low compared to the recommendations of the same agency (30 g per day for adults).
Food manufacturers are encouraged to increase the dietary fibre content in their products. Consumers should also give preference to high fibre foodstuff such as fruit and vegetables, pulses and cereals.
To bridge the 'fibre gap', Tereos has launched Actilight, an oligofructose also known as fructo-oligosaccharides. It is a dietary fibre obtained from sugar beet.
This healthy ingredient is chosen by food manufacturers for its taste and nutritional qualities. Actilight Fibre is found in infant formula, yogurts, ice creams and sorbets, biscuits, cereal bars and breakfast cereals, smoothies, nutritional supplements… and it’s already doing us good!
“Consumers have become more demanding. They are looking for information about healthier options and expect it to be simple and easily understandable. That is the principle that guided the design of the new website of Actilight Fibre,” said Pierre Brun, Product Manager for Life Science and Nutrition ingredients at Tereos.
According to Tereos research, led by Mintel:
- 53% of the UK consumers think that fibres are most beneficial to their health, following vitamins (76%) and protein (72%)
- 96% of them claim that they get fibre in their diets from natural sources (vegetable, bread, fruit smoothies…) while 70% have added-fibre food and 16% take fibre supplements
The new Actilight Fibre website makes it easy to understand the ingredient, its benefits and its origin.
“With this initiative, we intend to encourage fibre consumption. Consumers want to know more about the origin. Talking about raw material origin adds a positive dimension to the perception of our ingredient, sugar beet being well-known by consumers. We also wanted to let consumers be aware that oligofructose is naturally present in a wide range of plants such as wheat, banana, asparagus, artichoke, etc. With our ingredient, we are just offering a concentrate of fibre, a convenient way of eating more fibres,” said Brun.
One teaspoon of Actilight is equivalent to 10 bananas, 700 g of rye or 40 cloves of garlic. The new Actilight Fibre website also reminds that the most simple way of getting enough fibres is to eat a variety of vegetable products every day.
Tereos has also asked the help of a French nutritionist, Florence Cultier, to explain the benefits of Actilight Fibre on the intestinal flora. Visit the website to discover why Actilight Fibre is an energy concentrate for our gut!
