As part of its innovation strategy, Aurora Ceres’ client, a global food and beverage brand is exploring the opportunities around gut health and looking to introduce ingredients into its products that can enable functional benefits. A key part of this strategy is to use ingredients which support the consumers gut microbiome.
Looking after the gut microbiome is vital in ensuring our body is in good health and able to absorb key nutrients. The reported benefits of maximising gut health, through the targeted use of the right ingredients, ranges from digestion and immunity to improved mental health from the increasing knowledge of the gut-brain axis.
Gut Health.
The key ingredient of interest, and those typically associated with gut health, are Prebiotics, Probiotic, and Postbiotics.
- Prebiotics are substances that come from various carbohydrates, mostly fibre, that humans can’t digest. These are what feed the good bacteria (Probiotics) in the gut.
- Probiotics are live the bacteria and yeasts which have various health benefits and help to restore the natural balance of bacteria in the gut. Examples include: Lactobacilli; Bifidobacterium; Saccharomyces boulardii.
- Postbiotics (parabiotics) are produced as a by-product of the fermentation process carried out by probiotics. They help to ensure the growth and survival of good bacteria in the gut and contribute to the overall balance. These substances include short-chain fatty acids, protein chains (peptides), and parts of dead bacteria. These by-products are thought to help balance and maintain gut microbiome.
As the primary applications for this project are beverages it is important that the ingredients are:
- water soluble (Hot or Cold).
- able to be agglomerated or granulated to enable their use in Ready-To-Mix (RTM) applications.
- able to support gut health associated claims.
- sufficiently robust to withstand manufacturing processes.
Early stage research and development are of particular interest for all aspects of this project however commercially available solutions will also be considered. It is not expected that all solutions will be for food use, and utilisation in non-food application is also of interest
Responses
All solutions must be submitted to Technology Scout ([email protected]), with a subject line B21/137/1 Gut Health, detailing:
- A summary of the technology and its parameters.
- The technical or application limitations.
- Manufacturing capabilities and locations.
- Contact details.
ACTION Food Technology Scouting
Food Industry Experts at The Aurora Ceres® Partnership Ltd provide food and drink technology scouting for some of the world’s largest food and drink manufacturers and brands using the ACTION technology scouting platform. ACTION is a food and drink technology scouting programme that is tailored for each client and each project and follows our 4-stage approach: Review – Contact – Call – Filter. To find out more how ACTION can help your food technology scouting needs click here.
