China's insufficient fibre intake is creating opportunities for the food industry to innovate with fibre-rich, functional ingredients that meet nutritional and consumer demands.
Brands are turning to fibre to meet consumer demand for healthier, low-calorie products that don't compromise on taste or texture.
This is according to global ingredients firm Tate & Lyle, which specialises in plant-based ingredients solutions among its portfolio.
"Across food and beverage sectors, we see more fibre-enriched products being launched.
"Based on our new product database, over the past five years, new products with high-fibre claims have grown by over 15% CAGR. In food, snacks, breakfast cereals, bakery, and dairy are top categories.
"In beverages, nutritional drinks and juices are new stars. Consumers find fibre-enriched juices and vegetable drinks very acceptable.
"For consumers, fibre is strongly associated with digestive health, weight management, and blood sugar control -- especially digestive health and weight management", said Lily You, Tate & Lyle's senior manager for Consumer Insights and Analytics in APAC.
Such findings are unsurprising, as research has shown that most Chinese consumers have insufficient fibre intake.
"China presents a unique opportunity to make a significant impact on healthier diets. Very few countries worldwide are meeting recommended fibre intake levels, and China is no exception. Closing this gap represents a major opportunity to improve public health -- an opportunity that has largely been missed so far," said Abigail Storms, Tate & Lyle's senior vice president for Global Platform, Sweeteners and Fibres.
According to the National Institute for Nutrition and Health, the daily fibre intake of Chinese adults averaging just 9.7g - far below the recommended 25-30g set by the Chinese Nutrition Society.
This indicates significant potential for product innovation that targets this gap, said Stephen Bian, Tate & Lyle's senior category development manager for Nutrition, Personal Care & Bakery.
He highlighted the scale of the opportunity, noting that even a modest 5g of added fibre per person could result in a substantial market demand - with a population of 1.4 billion, the need for fibre-rich solutions in China is undeniable.
However, while Chinese consumers are increasingly aware of the fibre gap, they are not willing to compromise on taste or price.
"Even when choosing healthy products, consumers do not want to sacrifice taste," said Bian.
This makes overcoming barriers related to taste and texture essential for the success of fibre-enriched products.
Bian explained that fibre is added not only for health claims, but also to achieve low-calorie, low-fat, and low-sugar formulations: "Fibre acts as a bulking agent, linking ingredients together, and helps manufacturers promote health benefits to consumers at the same time."
For example, one of the firm's plant-based solution is the citrus-derived GENU Pectin - a gelling agent and stabiliser that aims to enhance texture and stability in jams, jellies, and fruit-based formulations.
"One of our exciting prototypes is a three-layer mousse cake shaped like an apple. Without fibres, the structure collapses. So we combined pectin, starch, and polydextrose to rebuild the structure and to ensure the right texture and taste," said Bian.
Beyond improving product quality, fibre is also increasingly used to support health areas beyond digestion.
"Fibers are increasingly being used in product innovations aimed at supporting weight management, blood sugar control, immune function, and other areas of health, well beyond digestive support alone.
"Our innovation pipeline is focused on developing fibre solutions that deliver clinically proven gut health benefits, helping our customers bring functional, consumer-relevant products to market," said Storms.
Another plant-based ingredient for beverages include the PROMITOR soluble corn fibre, which helps maintain intestinal function when used with NUTRAVA Citrus Fibre, which is upcycled from used citrus peels.
These solutions are based on Tate & Lyle's research, which found that compared to low fibre diets, high fibre diets have been shown to help reduce the incidence of lifestyle diseases, including 10-22% reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, 17-31% reduced risk of coronary heart disease, 11-22% reduced risk of colorectal cancer, and reduced body weight, cholesterol and blood pressure.
Therefore, the firm will continue to focus on developing fibre solutions that tackle key barriers such as taste, texture, and consumer acceptance in fibre-fortified products, said Storms.
For example, in applications like protein bars, maintaining a soft, moist texture throughout shelf life can be difficult. New fibre solutions are being developed to help address issues such as cold flow - softening or spreading of a product over time - and textural degradation such as becoming harder or drier, over time.