With the continuous improvement of people's awareness of health consumption, dietary fiber has gradually entered the public's field of vision, and rapidly extended to all kinds of food. The era of functional food dominated by dietary fiber is quietly coming.

1. Definition of dietary fiber

Dietary fiber refers to polysaccharides and lignin that can not be decomposed by digestive enzymes. It cannot be digested and absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract, nor can it produce energy. It was once considered as a kind of "non nutritive substance", but it has not been paid enough attention for a long time.

With the in-depth study of nutrition and related science, it is found that dietary fiber has a very important physiological role. Especially in today's more and more refined diet composition, dietary fiber has become the focus of food and beverage enterprises and consumers, and has also been recognized as "the 7th category of nutrients" by the nutrition circle.

As of 2019, FDA has approved 18 ingredients as dietary fiber, including soluble and insoluble dietary fiber. Among them, the more common soluble dietary fiber includes inulin, polydextrose, resistant dextrin, etc.; soluble dietary fiber is widely used in food, beverage, dairy products, beer, baking and other fields due to its good solubility and high dietary fiber content.

Recommended by Chinese Nutrition Society: dietary fiber intake of 25-35g per person per day. At least 5 kinds of vegetables and 2 kinds of fruits are needed, with a total weight of more than 1-2kg, which can not be met by 90% of the global population. The huge demand gap must be filled by daily products rich in dietary fiber.

From this point of view, the market demand for dietary fiber is large.

2. Application of dietary fiber in food field

In recent years, with the rapid growth of global dietary fiber market, the market demand for intestinal health and weight control products has gradually extended from the field of health food to the field of dairy products, beverages, baking and other traditional food.

Forecast of 10% CAGR of global dietary fiber Market (2019-2029)

Image source: Future Market Insights

New products with dietary fiber have been introduced continuously. The figure above summarizes the proportion of new products with dietary fiber in the world in the past five years, in which dairy products, fish and egg products processing, baking and snacks all account for more than 9%.

1) Application of dietary fiber in beverage industry

Japanese consumers believe that beverage is not only used to quench thirst, but also regarded as a good nutrition source like vitamins. In 1988, Japanese Volkswagen pharmaceutical company launched a beverage called "fiber mini" to the market, in which soluble dietary fiber was used. As the product highlights the health, coupled with a successful sales strategy, it was widely welcomed as soon as it was launched. In Japan, the United States and other markets, consumer demand is growing at a rate of 10% every year, and some emerging markets, including China, are also gradually rising the upsurge of dietary fiber drinks.

Dietary fiber function claims to attract consumers to help them achieve healthy eating goals. Dietary fiber also plays another important role: helping brands achieve the low calorie and sugar reduction goals of their recipes.

2) Application of dietary fiber in baked food

Dietary fiber can be used in bread, cake, biscuit and other baked food. The added dietary fiber can absorb water, which is conducive to the solidification and preservation of products, improves the taste of products, extends the shelf life of products, and reduces the cost of enterprises.

Dietary fiber has good water holding capacity, and the products made with dietary fiber are more soft and nutritious. Dietary fiber is also rich in a variety of polysaccharide compounds, which can be added to flour and combine with protein in flour to form a larger grid structure, inhibit starch aging and improve flour. At the same time, dietary fiber can also help reduce the sweetness of products.

3) Application of dietary fiber in fillings

Reduce the sweetness of the product to provide the same texture and taste as sugar;

Provide suitable viscosity to form ideal taste;

Good water holding capacity and long shelf life;

Inhibition of starch aging;

Dietary fiber label and function promotion can be used;

4) Application of dietary fiber in candy

Candy is regarded as one of the best carriers of dietary fiber. Adding "sugar, fiber +" to candy will not increase the heat of the whole candy, but help to reduce the total heat of candy. Especially in soft sweets, it can improve the stickiness, effectively prevent oil separation, and improve the chewiness of soft sweets. The glass transition temperature of dietary fiber is 100-110 ℃. Adding dietary fiber into hard sugar product can improve the glass transition property of the whole product.

5) Application of dietary fiber in ice cream

Fat replacement: it can replace part of sucrose and fat, and can be used in low calorie, low sugar and low-fat food. Its application in ice cream is a strong proof.

Antifreezing effect: it can reduce the freezing point of food, obtain the ideal hardness, and has certain influence on the expansion rate and anti melting performance of ice cream. At the same time, it also has the function of low temperature protection.

Moisturizing effect: it has the function of keeping water to a certain extent, improving the anti-aging property of the product, and playing the role of moisturizing. Reduce water loss due to low temperature.

Function claim: according to the national regulations on prepackaged food, the food added with dietary fiber can use dietary fiber claim on the packaging to improve the selling point of the product.

6) Application of dietary fiber in alcoholic products

In addition to the functional properties of dietary fiber and prebiotics, soluble dietary fiber can also effectively increase solids, wall viscosity and smoothness. At the same time, it can prevent the precipitation of internal solutes in the wine, improve the clarity, improve the flavor of the wine, and make the taste more mellow and refreshing. Therefore, it has been widely applied in Baijiu, beer and yellow wine.

7) Application of dietary fiber in meat products

Dietary fiber is an essential food ingredient for developing meat products with high fiber, high protein, low fat and low calorie.

Professor Zhou Yajun of Jilin University concluded in the specific experiment that adding dietary fiber in sausage products does not affect the smell and color of meat products. Adding dietary fiber properly will make the taste better, the meat color is bright, the meat quality is elastic, has a certain chewiness, and has a significant improvement on the quality of sausage. All the physical and chemical indicators and microbial indicators can reach the national quality standard Yes.

8) Application of dietary fiber in rice flour products

Frozen flour products are recognized for their safety, convenience and effective sensory and nutritional value. However, the quality deterioration of frozen dough during frozen storage will directly lead to the quality deterioration of flour products. Gluten is an important component of flour products. The network structure formed by its water absorption affects the quality of dough. During frozen storage, ice crystal recrystallization is caused by the change of temperature and humidity, which leads to the destruction of gluten network structure and the deterioration of quality. Dietary fiber can effectively protect this structure.

Adding dietary fiber to flour products can improve the gluten of flour products, enhance the viscoelasticity and flexibility of dough, and help reduce calories.

OKCHEM and and Jianlong Biotechnology Co., Ltd Dietary Fiber Resistant dextrin Project

OKCHEM and Jianlong Biotechnology Co., Ltd work together to look for long term partners in purchasing or distributing our dietary fiber resistant dextrin.

If you are interested in our project, please contact us at info@okchem.com or directly check online to make the application: https://www.okchem.com/agent/detail/Dietary_fiber

Resistant dextrin is processed from starch and is a low-calorie glucan obtained by saccharification of starch and then fibrosisreaction of liquid sugar and purification. Resistant dextrin belongs to low-molecular and water-soluble dietary fibers. As a low-calorie soluble food raw material, it has a broad development prospect in the food industry.

Related information:

Dietary Fiber is added in OKCHEM Food Additives Distribution Project

Main facts about resistant starch and dietary fiber (soluble and insoluble)

Applications for NuFiber Dietary Fiber Resistant Dextrin

Market situation and expected sales of water soluble dietary fiber products

The advantages of the resistant dextrin produced by our strategic partner factory