Application of Dietary Fiber in Functional Food

The use of dietary fiber in functional foods can be widely extended to a variety of food, health care, and medical products, with the main aims of supplementing the amount of dietary fiber needed for human physiology, increasing the health care functions of the products, improving the flavor of the products, improving the quality and added value of the products, and so on. Main application areas of dietary fiber:

1. Soluble dietary fibers in health food products

(1) Diabetes health care foods

Soluble dietary fiber retards gastric emptying, forming a type of mucosa in the gastrointestinal tract that slows down the process of digestion and absorption of food nutrients, and insoluble dietary fiber slows absorption by adsorbing glucose.In this way, the sugar fraction in the blood can only increase slowly. When the insulin is slightly inadequate,  it won't cause an increase in the blood glucose concentration right away. Moreover, water-soluble dietary fiber also has the effect of inhibiting glucagon secretion.

(2) Health foods for people with constipation

Soluble dietary fiber is currently widely used in health foods to regulate the microecological balance and relax bowel, and after the water-soluble dietary fiber is taken, it promotes intestinal bifidobacteria, lactobacilli, and other beneficial bacteria, while producing a large number of short chain fatty acids, such as acetic acid, acetic acid, folic acid, and lactic acid, and changes the intestinal PH and improves the breeding environment of the beneficial flora, thereby accelerating intestinal motility and enabling stool to be discharged smoothly.

2. Soluble dietary fibers in dairy products

The incorporation of dietary fiber in dairy products can simultaneously meet the needs of people for animal nutrients such as protein, vitamin A, fat, and plant nutrients such as dietary fiber, and can further improve the nutritional value and application range of dairy products.

3. Soluble dietary fibers in beverages

Dietary fiber beverages are popular functional beverages in the West. It can both quench thirst and replenish water, as well as provide dietary fiber required by the human body. Long-term drinking can make the intestines smooth and prevent constipation, and can reduce cholesterol, regulate blood lipids, blood sugar, and help control weight loss, especially for middle-aged and elderly people, people with diabetes, and people with obesity to drink. Applied in beverages, it has the following characteristics:

(1) Consumption of beverages supplemented with water-soluble dietary fiber, which enables drinkers to absorb all nutrients while enhancing satiety and reducing their intake of caloric substances, and long-term consumption can contribute significantly to weight loss, especially for young and middle-aged obese people;

(2) After using water-soluble dietary fiber in beverages, other particles in the beverage can be evenly distributed in the solution, and precipitation and stratification are not easy to occur.

4. Soluble dietary fibers in infant food products

Infants and young children in particular experience a sudden decline in bifidobacteria after ablactation, which leads to diarrhea anorexia, growth retardation, and reduced utilization of nutrients; the consumption of water-soluble dietary fiber foods, which can improve the use of nutrients and promote absorption of trace elements such as calcium, iron, and zinc.