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  09/05/2017 | Ingredients

Chicory root fibres lower blood glucose response in sugar-reduced food

Prebiotic chicory root fibres can significantly lower the blood glucose response when used to partially replace the sugars in a food product. This effect has now been confirmed for formulations with low levels of sugar replacement in two well-designed blood glucose response studies.

Correlation analysis of the data also highlighted, that the more sugar is replaced by chicory root fibre, the lower the blood glucose response will be. The linear slope suggests that this effect can be seen with less than 20 % of sugar replacement, which is the lowest level that was experimentally tested.

The clinical trials were carried by Helen Lightowler and Sangeetha Thondre from the Functional Food Centre at the Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, UK.

The authors stated: “Lowering the blood glucose response to food products with chicory inulin or oligofructose, instead of sugars, could contribute to prevention and reducing the risk of chronic metabolic diseases. With the suitable properties of oligofructose and inulin as sugar replacers in food products, this could be achieved without compromise in taste and sensory qualities which is essential for the acceptance of such food products by consumers in their everyday life.”

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