Benefat® Offers A Brand New Approach to "Healthful" Nutrition

Initially embraced by consumers, low calorie and low fat foods soon lost favor with users when they discovered there was more of a reduction in quality than calorie content. Now, with Benefat® from Danisco Cultor, food processors can offer consumers the perfect marriage of an excellent nutritional profile and great taste.

Benefat® is fat, a structured triglyceride that tastes like fat and functions like fat, yet only delivers 5 Kcal per gram and therefore five-ninths the available fat of traditional fats. It differs from typical fat replacers, which are based largely on carbohydrate and protein and work well in high moisture systems. "If you're going to make a cookie, cake or brownie, you can use Benefat® and not sacrifice any quality in your products in terms of taste, texture, mouthfeel—the whole sensation of eating a product," said Lars Obel, Industry Manager, Bakery, with Danisco Cultor. Benefat® has the versatility to reduce fat and calories in a wide variety of foods without compromising that full fat taste appreciated by consumers. In fact, in sensory evaluations conducted by Danisco Cultor, consumers actually preferred foods made with Benefat® to full fat versions of the same items.

A GRAS affirmation petition for Benefat® was accepted for filing by the FDA in June 1994. Benefat® can be used in the USA in confectionery, dairy products, margarines & spreads, baked goods and snacks. Benefat® has proved to be particularly successful in confectionery and nutritional bars as well as baked goods. In addition to no flavor compromise, Benefat® has been found to have excellent oxidative stability, and offers the same structural attributes of fat, including tenderness, crumb structure and air cell structure. "You do not have to go to extremes in order to produce a reduced fat product with the same properties as the standard product," said Obel. "With Benefat®, no complicated reformulation is necessary. You can more or less use the same type of formula and just change the fat," Obel added.

The World Health Organization has described obesity as a global epidemic. Indeed, obesity, coronary heart disease, diabetes and other complications associated with over-consumption are on the rise. Benefat® opens up a wide spectrum of product development opportunities for those wishing to take advantage of consumers' conflicting desires for indulgent tasting foods with healthy nutritional profiles.

Danisco is one of the world's leading developers and producers of food ingredients. Last year, Danisco reported net sales of $3.4 billion USD and the group employed nearly 18,000 people in more than 40 countries. Danisco's broad product portfolio includes emulsifiers, stabilizers, flavorings, various types of fat replacers, and sweeteners such as xylitol and fructose. Most of these ingredients are produced from natural raw materials and contribute, for instance, to improving the texture of products such as bread, ice cream and yogurt. Danisco is also one of the largest and most efficient sugar producers in Europe.