There is lots of competition within the convenience sector of sports nutrition and active living at the moment. With the number of those being health conscious rising, brands are having to provide not only great tasting bars and snacks, but also great nutritionals.
An ingredient that is becoming increasingly popular within bars on the market are polyols. But what are polyols? They are hydrogenated carbohydrates used as sugar replacers, occurring naturally in foods such as fruits and berries.
Benefits of polyols within a product rather than sugar include;
- Non-cariogenic (tooth friendly) *
- Low glycaemic (useful in diabetes and cardiovascular disease) *
- Low energy, particularly useful for those watching their energy intake
- Low digestible carbohydrates
* Carries a 13.1 EFSA Health Claim that you could label on your product.
However, due to being labelled ‘low digestible’, intake is recommended to not exceed 40-50g per day for adults and 30g a day for children to avoid gastrointestinal discomfort.
The use of polyols is likely to become more and more widespread in order to reduce the sugar content of products so they appeal to the more mainstream consumer. With athletes who are expending a lot of energy through exercise each day, having a sugary snack isn’t the end of the world, and can actually aid their recovery and performance. However for the mass market consumer, brands need to weigh up between being able to have a great tasting low sugar snack, in return for the small risk of GI discomfort. In which case I think the low sugar products will prevail.
We have 12 flavours of great tasting protein bars, available in low sugar varieties. Typically a 64g low sugar bar will contain >20g protein and <2g sugar.
Contact us at enquiries@opalbond.co.uk if you would like your brand to seize the opportunity to increase your bar and convenience food offering.