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In recent years, with the continuous improvement of national living standards, a wide range of baked foods began to occupy people's daily life, a variety of new products emerged one after another, and the scale of the baking market grew rapidly.

By the end of 2020, the market scale of China's baking industry has reached 235.8 billion yuan, an increase of 6.8 billion yuan over the previous year, a year-on-year increase of 2.97%. It is expected that the market scale of baking industry will reach 265.7 billion yuan in 2021.

Image source: Zhiyan consulting

In addition, the growth rate of the market scale of China's baking industry from 2015 to 2019 was more than 9%, much higher than that of the global baking industry, and it is expected to maintain a growth rate of about 7% in the next five years.

Image source: Zhiyan consulting

The diversification of consumption concept makes baked goods become a substitute for traditional staple food on the table. However, most baked foods still use sucrose as sweetener, while sucrose can bring better organizational structure and taste to baked food, but high calorie and excessive consumption will increase the risk of hypertension, cardiovascular, diabetes and so on. No matter it is out of the pursuit of beauty, it is also a health consideration. Sugar control is very important ^[1].

Sugar reduction is urgent

The opinions of the State Council on the implementation of healthy China action issued in 2019 clearly points out that a reasonable diet is the basis of health. It is proposed to strengthen nutrition and dietary guidance for the whole population, and focus on encouraging the whole society to reduce salt, oil and sugar《 The action clearly puts forward the goal of "three reductions": by 2030, the per capita daily salt intake will not exceed 5g, the adult daily edible oil intake will not exceed 25-30g, and the per capita daily added sugar intake will not exceed 25g.

In terms of sugar reduction, the action points out that the government should speed up the research and formulation of standards to restrict the production and sales of high sugar food; Encourage consumers to reduce sucrose intake; Advocate food producers and operators to use natural sweeteners and sweeteners allowed by food safety standards to replace sucrose. People with high sugar intake in cities are encouraged to reduce the consumption of sucrose containing drinks and sweets, and choose natural sweeteners and sweeteners to replace the drinks and foods produced by sucrose.

In addition to sugar reducing food, healthy and functional food is also the development direction of today's food industry. Functional healthy baked food is gradually becoming a fast-moving consumer goods for residents to supplement nutrition, reduce diseases and enhance physique.

The functionality of healthy baked goods is reflected in the functional factors - prebiotics, dietary fiber, minerals and vitamins, which can regulate the function of intestinal tract, contribute to digestion and absorption, prevent diseases and improve human health. It is of great significance to reduce chronic diseases and sub-health groups ^[2].

Prebiotics - a good helper for intestinal health

Prebiotics are organic substances that can selectively promote the metabolism and proliferation of beneficial bacteria in the body without being digested and absorbed by the host, so as to improve the health of the host.

Prebiotics can only stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria, but not harmful bacteria with potential pathogenicity or spoilage activity. Prebiotics can not be decomposed, absorbed and utilized by the human body. After reaching the colon through the digestive tract, some can be decomposed and utilized by the colon group to promote the growth of colon flora. It is of great significance in improving intestinal microecology and promoting lipid, protein and mineral metabolism. Therefore, prebiotics are more and more widely used in the field of food.

Common prebiotics include oligosaccharides, including fructooligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides, xylooligosaccharides, Isomaltooligosaccharides, inulin, etc.

FOS - reduce your dietary burden

Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) are made from sucrose by modern bioengineering technology - fructosyltransferase.  

As a non reducing sugar,FOS is similar to sucrose in viscosity, water activity, moisture retention, thermal stability and processability under acidic conditions. FOS is known as the most potential new generation of additives after the era of antibiotics - promoters, and is called protoplasts (PPE) in France ^[3].

At present, Europe, America, Japan and other countries have been applied in dairy products, lactic acid bacteria drinks, solid drinks, candy cakes, biscuits, bread, jelly, cold drinks, soup, grains and other foods.

Characteristics and advantages of FOS

1. Improve flora balance, inhibit intestinal corruption and relieve constipation

FOS cannot be directly digested and absorbed by the human body. After eating, it goes directly to the large intestine and is fermented by intestinal bacteria to produce short chain fatty acids such as acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid, so as to reduce the pH of intestinal environment, so as to improve the balance of intestinal flora, promote the proliferation of probiotics such as bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria, and inhibit the growth and reproduction of harmful bacteria and pathogenic bacteria, Reduce the production and accumulation of intestinal endotoxin and putrefactive substances, promote intestinal peristalsis, and alleviate constipation and diarrhea.

2. Improve lipid metabolism and reduce blood lipid and cholesterol

FOS can effectively reduce the amount of serum cholesterol, triglycerides and free fatty acids, and can improve a series of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and Arteriosclerosis Caused by high blood lipid.

3. Promote the absorption of mineral elements such as calcium and nutrient elements

FOS cannot be decomposed by digestive enzymes and is fermented by bacteria in the large intestine to produce L-lactic acid, which reduces the pH of the intestine. The acidic conditions produced by Fos increase the dissolution rate of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc.

4. Improve immunity and reduce cancer risk

FOS can improve immune system function and overall health level, and improve human microecology. It can promote the natural formation of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12 and folic acid, so as to improve human metabolism, immunity and disease resistance.

5. Caries prevention

Dental caries is one of the common oral diseases in children in China. It is mostly caused by the erosion of oral microorganisms, especially Streptococcus mutans. FOS can not be used by Streptococcus mutans to produce insoluble glucan and provide a place for oral microbial deposition, acid production and corrosion (tartar), so it can prevent dental caries.

Wang Yongjun ^[4] of South China University of technology studied the application of four kinds of functional oligosaccharides in sponge cake. The results show that using oligofructose to completely replace sucrose in sponge cake will improve the whole texture quality of sponge cake, and the elasticity and resilience of the cake are the highest, indicating that its internal tissue is soft, elastic, refreshing but not sticky, and the substitution effect is good. After several days of storage, the water holding capacity was similar to that of sponge cake with sucrose.

About us

The FOS product of Shandong Starlight So True Biological Technology Co., Ltd. is a high-quality prebiotic synthesized by fructosyltransferase with the sucrose of Shandong Starlight Sugar Industry Group as the raw material and the patented technology of independent invention. So True’s FOS product has excellent characteristics such as good fluidity, low water activity and high purity. After being added to baked food, it can improve the texture, color and volume after baking, make the cake softer, reduce the sweetness of baked products, and make baked products probiotic.

References：

[1] Zhu Yuting, Hu Zhihe. Research progress of sugar free food [J]. Beverage industry, 2021,24 (03): 75-79      

[2] Zhang Qun. Research on production technology of healthy baked food [J]. Journal of food and biotechnology, 2019,38 (10): 160

[3] Xue Shan. New research progress on biological efficacy and production technology of fructooligosaccharides [J]. Food industry, 2012,33 (04): 115-119

[4] Wang Yongjun. Application of four functional oligosaccharides in sponge cake [D]. South China University of technology, 2019