From enzymes to probiotics and dietary fiber, including prebiotics, consumers are increasingly aware of the importance of these ingredients for immunity and overall wellness.

Spurred on by significant media attention and industry education, the role of digestive health is increasingly being recognized by consumers and health practitioners as very important to overall well-being.

Ajinomoto Co. Ltd., and a group led by professor Masayuki Saito of Tenshi College in Sapporo, Japan, have found a single ingestion of capsinoids, a sweet chili pepper extract, appears to increase energy expenditure, especially “in people with a high level of activity in brown adipose tissue.

A presentation given at Prepared Foods' R&D Application Seminars reviews research supporting soy proteins benefits for weight management.

Synbiotics, a mixture of a reliable probiotic with an efficacious prebiotic in a food, beverage or supplement, is a growing concept involving the alteration of gut microbiota for improved health.

Beta-Carotene 15% LCS, from DSM Nutritional Products, gives products “a healthy, pro-vitamin a advantage, while enabling the development of meal replacement drinks, powdered beverages, stick packs, nutrition bars and dairy products, without the characteristic orange/yellow color,” according to the company.

Consumers continue to eat and drink for health and are willing to pay more for functional properties. Probiotics, long limited to the dairy sector, are quickly expanding their potency and reach, while food formulators find new uses for galacto-oligosaccharides; not only do they help with taste and texture, but also with satiety.

Consumers equate blueberries with antioxidant power and readily accept them incorporated into any product. Based on data from the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Boston, blueberries are among the fruits with the highest antioxidant activity.

Microorganisms have long been a part of the human diet. In particular, the Lactobacillus genus of bacteria has been consumed for centuries, after it was found the organisms were useful in increasing the shelflife of meat or milk, through fermentation.

Researchers uncover a “digestive symbiosis” between milk oligosaccharides and Bifidobacteria . The health benefits of other components found in milk--from CLA to whey proteins--are being investigated and commercialized.