Healthy Eating

With the right nutrients, food manufacturers are able to develop fi nal products for those consumers trying to manage their weight, which simultaneously appeal to taste-buds and rising health awareness. Whereas 40 years ago, malaria, typhoid and malnutrition were major health threats, millions of people in Asia are now falling prey to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that might have traditionally been considered ‘western’, including cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that NCDs are now in fact the biggest cause of death worldwide. However, the right macronutrients included into the daily diet may help to counter risk factors, and consequently NCDs. One such nutrition-related risk factor is overweight and obesity.

Globally, studies show more than one billion people are now overweight and at least 300 million are obese. Unfortunately, with each passing year, Asians make up an increasingly higher percentage of this total. The WHO reports that 19.6 percent of Japan’s population is overweight, 3 percent obese. Similar fi gures are reported from the Philippines where 19.7 percent of the population are overweight and 4.3 percent obese.3 In China18.7 percent of the population are overweight, 3.4 percent obese. Whereas in Singapore 10.8 percent of the population is obese according to the latest Singapore National Health Survey from 2010. The main reason is that the rapid urbanization, increased GDP, and globalization in these countries has resulted in the adoption of more westernized patterns of physical inactivity and diets richer in calories and fat.

WHO defi nes obesity as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 plus, and ‘overweight’ as having a BMI of 25-30. However, since 2005 WHO has revised the BMI for obesity level downwards for Asians so that now, an Asian is considered an obese if his BMI is 27.5 or above. A measure refl ecting the fact that Asians have increased risks of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes at lower BMI levels than the global standard.

Indeed, as the continent gets more economically developed, the risk of its population developing Type 2 diabetes and hypertension also increases. Statistics show that 58 percent of diabetes and 21 percent of ischemic heart disease are attributable to a BMI above 21. Six Asian countries – India, China, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan and Bangladesh – are listed in the WHO’s 10 countries with the greatest prevalence of diabetes for example, and by 2025, estimates suggest that the number of Asians with diabetes could hit 198 million.

Asia fi ghts back
The good news for Asia however, is that there is growing regional awareness about the importance of maintaining a healthy weight. According to a Datamonitor report, 60 percent, 50 percent and 61 percent of those surveyed in Japan, Singapore and South Korea, respectively, say they are trying to lose weight. In China, some 45 percent of those surveyed were trying to lose weight, while in India, the fi gure is 49 percent. This refl ects a higher average compared to the United States, where in spite of the fact obesity is attributed to some 360,000 American deaths a year, just 55 percent are trying to slim down.

In the past, the infl ux of processed food, confectionery, and soft drink companies into the region has been accredited for the worsening of the Asian obesity problem. However, a balanced and healthy nutrition including macronutrients such as prebiotic fi bres or functional carbohydrates has the potential to counter the growing prevalence of obesity and overweight. In recent years the trend towards healthconsciousness and weight-watching leaves food manufacturers an opportunity to cater to consumers in Asia, who are driving trends for sugar and fat reduced food products, low-calorie foods as well as products having a low glycaemic blood glucose response. With the right nutrients, food manufacturers are able to develop fi nal products for those consumers trying to manage their weight, which simultaneously appeal to taste-buds and rising health awareness.

Cutting the calories
Weight management is not just about weight loss, but also about maintaining a healthy weight and preventing unhealthy weight gain. Weight gain is largely a gradual process, with a typical adult gaining around one kg per year over the course of their lifetime. It has been estimated that the increase in obesity rates in the United States between 1980 and 1994 was due to an intake of only 3.7 kcal above maintenance per day in women and 12.7 kcal above maintenance in men (calculated based on 35 year old adults). Eating just a few calories less per day or burning a few more calories there has the potential to make all the difference between a healthy or unhealthy body weight.

However, reduced calorie foods have largely been associated with negative connotations concerning a perceived reduction on taste. Historically, rigid eating regimes are short-lived or unsustainable for long periods of time. Consumers typically have apportioned blame for being overweight or obese on the failure of low-calorie alternatives to satisfy their sensation of enjoyment and fulfi llment. Dieters in the past frequently complained about ‘rabbit food’ lunches and suppers that taste of ‘cardboard’.

Refusing to compromise on taste, as well as health
Foods like ice cream, yoghurts, milk, cookies, and cakes pile on the calories with their high fat content, whereby fat counts for 9 kcal/g. The small fat globules give creamy and soft mouth-feel. This is one of the major reasons why millions of consumers like food with high fat content and consequently exceed their recommended daily calorie intake. It is not diffi cult to create low-fat foods, but it is a real challenge to create fat-reduced food products that feel and taste as good as the full-fat versions. However, innovative food ingredients available today are making it possible to mimic the mouth-feel of fat and thus making it possible to enjoy calorie-reduced indulgence.

Derived from chicory root, prebiotic fi bres such as BENEO’s Orafti inulin, help to increase the amount of fi bre and reduce the fat content in an entire range of food products at the same time. The white, odourless, soluble powder can stabilise water into a creamy structure. Compared to fats, inulin contains only 1.5kcal/g. With its neutral taste and colour it does not falsify the sensory quality of low-fat food. This solution enables food manufacturers to produce fi bre-enriched and reduced calorie versions of traditionally indulgent food products such as ice cream, yoghurt, mousses, dairy drinks or smoothies that consumers do not want to sacrifi ce for a healthier eating regime. A range of special grades of inulin are available to ensure the best texture and fat reduction properties.

Rice starches represent another far-reaching and multifunctional resource for delicious and appealing fat-reduced products. Because rice starch granules mimic the feeling of fat globules in the mouth, it is ideal for fat reduced alternatives in food applications requiring a creamy texture, such as dairy products, soups, sauces, fat-based fi llings and bakery products. BENEO’s rice derivatives are naturally free of gluten and lactose and allow formulators exceptional control over textures that can be fi ne-tuned for creamy, crunchy, fi lmy or crispy character.

Substituting sugar
Sweetness profi le and mouth-feel are important characteristic of popular food items such as confectionery, chocolate, cakes, cookies and other sweet goods. However, this often translates into an excess consumption of calories. As consumers become more health-conscious and aware of the impact the foods that they are eating has on them, the time has come to look for alternatives to treat the sweet tooth. BENEO has developed the sugar replacer, isomalt, which is the only sugar replacer derived from pure sugar beet and thus has a sugar-like taste with about 50 percent of its sweetness. It replaces sugar in a 1:1 ratio while being sugar-free, very low glycaemic, low in calorie and toothfriendly. When used in sweet foods, isomalt provides the same taste and body as if sugar were used. The use of isomalt enables food manufacturers to cut down on the amount of sugar or even fully replace the sugar used in the fi nal product. At only 2kcal/g the calories per item are reduced and at the same time the glycaemic response of fi nal products can be lowered. Consumers can be sure that they are consuming fewer calories, aiding their weight management efforts.

Reducing energy in-take
Snacking has long been a source of guilt for consumers attempting to manage their weight; and consistent snacking can contribute signifi cantly to energy intake, often unnoticed. Weight control can therefore be made easier by infl uencing the body’s blood glucose and insulin levels; the desire to snack may decrease and weight is much more controllable. Manufacturers can support here by formulating with low or non-glycaemic carbohydrates, which help to maintain a healthy blood glucose level.

Dietary fi bres for example are non-digestible carbohydrates that are fermented in the large intestine and virtually have no blood glucose response. Polyols such as isomalt are low-digestible and partially available carbohydrates. They have a very low blood glucose response. Carbohydrates being fully digestible have mostly a fast and high blood glucose response. These include glucose, sucrose, maltodextrins, or processed starch as in white bread or boiled potatoes. However, there is also a unique carbohydrate that is fully, yet slowly digestible: Palatinose (generic: isomaltulose) having a low glycaemic effect.

Nutrients, such as prebiotic fi bres, polyols or functional carbohydrates, like Palatinose can help a great deal in achieving a lower blood glucose and insulin day profi le by replacing high glycaemic carbohydrates. Whereas Palatinose modifi es the glucose supply prebiotic fi bres and polyols help to reduce the glucose supply.

Key to maintaining a healthy body weight is to keep both energy (i.e. calorie) intake and output in balance. When these two factors are out of sync, it can result in undesired weight gain. To address the obesity epidemic, the food industry can look to helping consumers reduce their energy intake and maintain optimal body weight and a healthy diet simultaneously. Various studies with the prebiotic fi bres Orafti oligofructose and Orafti Synergy1 (oligofructose enriched inulin) have shown to help healthy adults and adolescents lower their daily energy intake and eat less respectively. Both nutrients having a mild sweet taste and being soluble contribute to balanced nutrition without affecting the taste or texture of the fi nal product.

Enhanced fat-burning rate
Besides managing the energy intake, the way of how the human body is using energy sources is also important for an effective weight management. The functional carbohydrate Palatinose has a unique ability to promote fat oxidation in the body when consumed in combination with a healthy diet and exercise programme.

Scientifi c studies, have shown that Palatinose increases the proportion of energy derived from fat in overall energy consumption under physical activity – applying to both the physically active and those with more sedentary lifestyles. Being low glycaemic and low insulinemic the functional carbohydrate makes a higher fat burning rate possible, or in other words increases the proportion of overall energy production that comes from fat. An enhanced fat-burning rate means that consumers can draw on their carbohydrate reserves for longer and burn fat more effectively. Palatinose is derived from sugar beet and thus has a mild, sweet, sugar-like taste. Therefore it doesn’t affect the sensorial profi le of the fi nal product.

Good food, good health – no compromise
Food manufacturers now have a host of tried and tested functional nutrients available, that are capable of controlling energy intake, reducing calories, fat and sugar and delivering low glycaemic index products that do not compromise on taste, texture or quality. Innovative ingredients such as the prebiotic fi bres oligofructose and inulin, the sugar replacer isomalt, the functional carbohydrate Palatinose (isomaltulose) and rice starches can positively infl uence weight management. They help people to incorporate more easily healthy food into their daily diet, without the need to compromise on taste or texture or drastically change their eating habits.