Calorie reduction and fibre enhancement

Why are we undertaking this project?

Reducing calorie intake is a major part of diet and health initiatives. Understanding the technical functions of dietary fibre in products and their potential for calorific density reduction can support innovation of lower calorie products. This will help meet the Public Health England challenge of a 20% reduction in calories and will help increase the daily intake of dietary fibre.

What are we doing as part of this project?

Providing an understanding of the functionality of dietary fibres, potential new sources of fibre and which fibres perform best in certain products.

Current status of the project

This year we will investigate the impact of different commercial dietary fibres on the product characteristics of a carbonated, water-based beverage. As part of this project we will identify processing challenges and evaluate the impact of different fibres on consumer acceptability in the test product. Furthermore, we will study the effect of reducing calorie-density in a vegan burger using different dietary fibres. Lastly, we aim to valorise a by-product, such as garlic spent residue or rapeseed press-cake, to create a high fibre ingredient for application in a food product to improve its fibre content.