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Fiber Gets a Gut Check with Consumers

Sept. 21, 2022
As consumer trends go, fiber is filling up the carts of many, though the reasons are as diverse as the people who consume it.

Eating more fiber has been on the to-do list of consumers for decades. Everyone knows fiber helps with digestion, satiety and overall gut health. And as people age, the motivation to eat better grows, research reveals.

“In a recent Health Focus International survey on behalf of Beneo, 85% of those aged 50 and older have shown a willingness to take charge of their health, realizing that their short-term health depends on how well they take care of themselves,” says Anke Sentko, vice president of regulatory affairs and nutrition communication at Beneo, which makes inulin and oligofructose, which are fiber ingredients in the “inulin-like fructan” category.

“A key way of doing this is through changing what they eat and drink,” she continues, “with 30% of consumers aged 50+ saying that the primary reason for them choosing healthy foods and beverages is to ensure their future good health, with another 28% choosing these products to enhance their daily health.”

What seems to be changing – and this affects how food processors market the fiber content of their products – are the reasons consumers want fiber in their food. Sure, people still want to eat things that make their bathroom moments more satisfactory, but they also want the dozens of other benefits fiber brings, ranging from reducing cholesterol to preventing cancer.

“The reasons we seek higher fiber has expanded — amplifying and evolving this trend [of adding fiber to food],” says Wendy Bazilian, a doctor of public health and nutritionist and consultant to the food industry. “High fiber really used to be code for ‘digestion,’ as in moving the digestion and benefiting regularity. The interest and research into the gut microbiome has exploded in the past two decades, and the research and interest in many nutrients and areas around the gut is hot.”

Hot fiber attributes

The FDA identified two classes of fiber when it released its formal definition of dietary fiber in 2016: naturally occurring fibers that are “intrinsic and intact” in plants and “isolated or synthetic non-digestible carbohydrates (with 3 or more monomeric units) determined by FDA to have physiological effects that are beneficial to human health.”

“Intrinsic and intact” fibers are those that naturally occur in grains, fruits and vegetables. Whole wheat bread, for example, contains the bran of the wheat kernel, the outer layer that is rich in fiber. Per the FDA, “foods containing these fibers have been shown to be beneficial, and manufacturers do not need to demonstrate that they provide beneficial physiological effects to human health.”

Fiber in the “isolated or synthetic” category is not necessarily less nutritious than naturally occurring fiber, it’s just not an intact part of a plant. Fibers in this category include inulin, guar gum, pectin, locust bean gum, psyllium husk and beta-glucan soluble fiber.

Both categories of fiber have nutrition attributes that go beyond the classic fiber benefit of improved toileting. Today’s consumers look to fiber for cholesterol reduction, gut bacteria health, appetite regulation, sustained energy, anti-cancer benefits and more. The good thing is, fiber can actually do those things.

Take cholesterol reduction, for example: “Soluble fiber can reduce the absorption of cholesterol into your bloodstream,” the Mayo Clinic website says. “Five to 10 grams or more of soluble fiber a day decreases your LDL cholesterol. One serving of a breakfast cereal with oatmeal or oat bran provides 3 to 4 grams of fiber.”

Quaker Oat Bran, for example, touts on its label “As part of a heart healthy diet, the soluble fiber in oat bran helps reduce cholesterol!”

Because fiber makes food more filling – and because it replaces some of the functional properties of sugar – it also has tangential heart health benefits. For example, inulin, a fiber made from chicory root, is used to reduce calories in baked goods. It can replace some of the sugar content while helping maintain the taste and texture consumers expect.

“In terms of added health benefits, Beneo’s Orafti Inulin and Oligofructose (chicory root fiber) reduce the glycemic response of foods by replacing sugar or other high glycemic carbohydrates in food formulations and at the same time enrich those foods with fiber content, thus helping to bridge the fiber gap,” notes Denisse Colindres, nutrition communication manager, North America at Beneo.

The cancer-prevention benefits of fiber are also big these days, of course. Research from the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) shows that each 10-grams increase in dietary fiber is linked with a 7 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer. “It’s possible that fiber also plays a role in lower risk of other cancers, but that evidence is still very limited,” said Karen Collins, AICR’s nutrition advisor, during a webinar on the topic.

The ability to tout cancer prevention on a label certainly can be a consumer enticement. The label on Arnold Stone Ground Whole Wheat Bread offers an example: “Diets rich in whole grain foods and other plant foods and low in fat and saturated fat and cholesterol may help reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers.”

Finally, fiber can support popular diets. The keto diet, for example, restricts carbohydrates, which are a popular source of fiber (think bread). So a food product that provides a lot of fiber without the carbs will sell well among keto adherents.

“Fiber as an ingredient works to an advantage at helping a food to be keto-friendly, but can also market ‘high in fiber’ if the amount meets the claim definitions,” Bazilian says.

Chia flour added to baked goods, for example, helps make it keto-friendly, she says. Such flour is high in fiber, naturally gluten-free and is a good source of omega-3. An example of a product that uses chia is Good to Go soft baked snacks from Riverside Natural Foods. The company uses Benexia Xia fiber in their baked goods to increase fiber content and eliminate some other ingredients, including hydrocolloids.

In addition to touting the ability to fight cancer, heart disease and other scourges, many brands with fiber content are bragging about being clean label, sustainable, etc. Bazilian calls that the “plus” of fiber label claims.

“Decades ago, fiber was just fiber. Now people want the benefit that comes with the fiber, and they want to know where it comes from,” she says. “What’s the source? Where’s the fiber from? If the fiber source helps with texture or shelf-life, then this is what makes the fiber even more valuable to the food product and developer team.”

Communicating fiber content

Adding fiber to a processed food product won’t help sales if consumers don’t know about it, of course. Smart marketers pay attention to what consumers want to hear – less talk about going to the bathroom – while being keenly aware of FDA labeling regulations.

Cascadian Farm Organic “Hearty Morning Fiber” cereal is a good example of a product that contains a lot of fiber but does not emphasize the “better-for-you bathroom experience,” Bazilian says. Instead, the brand advertises the organic nature of its fiber-containing elements, the fact that it is non-GMO and that it supports sustainable farming practices.

Contrast that to Uncle Sam’s Cereal, a brand introduced in 1908 that once used the slogan “a natural laxative.” That was a long time ago, of course, and the cereal, which is owned by Post and is sold through its Three Sisters business unit, now boasts that it’s vegan and heart-healthy on the label. Those factors are clearly more appealing to breakfast cereal shoppers than improved bowel movements.

Regarding FDA regulations, it’s not a coincidence that the makers of Finncrisp Sour Dough Rye Thins use almost precisely the same language regarding cancer and fiber as the makers of Arnold Stone Ground Whole Wheat: “Diets rich in whole grain foods and other plant foods and low in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease and some cancers.”

The reason both companies use that language is not because they use the same copywriter – it’s because they follow the FDA rules closely. As with all health claims, the FDA is strict about what brands can say about cancer prevention. They offer two “model” claims:

  • “Low fat diets rich in fiber-containing grain products, fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of some types of cancer, a disease associated with many factors.”
  • “Development of cancer depends on many factors. Eating a diet low in fat and high in grain products, fruits and vegetables that contain dietary fiber may reduce your risk of some cancers.”

Adding fiber to processed food is a trend that has been building for decades but does not seem at risk of abating, especially as consumers age and seek more ways to stay well.

“Interestingly, over the past 10 years, there has been a shift in consumer focus from life-threatening acute conditions being top of global health concerns to those centered around daily living and aging,” Sentko says.

“As people age, the gut microbiome changes, weakening the inner defense system,” she continues. “The benefits that nutrition can offer in terms of supporting gut health and helping strengthen the inner defense system is of increasing interest to older consumers, particularly as 50% are extremely or very concerned about gastrointestinal/digestive problems and 56% about their immune health.”

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