Scientists make breakthrough on ‘healthy’ chocolate. (Image: Getty/wundervisuals) Scientists have discovered the secret to ‘rich’ and ‘luxurious’ probiotic-enhanced chocolate
Gut health is the number one health trend in food and beverage, powering sales of everything from kombucha and kefir to leeks and beans and amassing a global value of $51.62bn (Grand View Research).
Now, chocolate looks set to join the gut-friendly sales boom.
And yes, dark chocolate (70%+ cocoa solids), with its high fibre content, has already been recognised as being good for the gut. But now, manufacturers have found a way to add probiotics into dark, milk and white chocolate, without compromising on flavour.
So, how have they done it and what opportunities does it create for manufacturers? What are probiotics?
Probiotics are live microorganisms, often described as helpful or ‘good’ bacteria, because they help keep the gut healthy.
Probiotics can be found in foods including live yoghurt, sauerkraut, kimchi and soft cheeses.
The seven main probiotics added to probiotic products are Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Saccharomyces, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Escherichia, and Bacillus. Making tasty chocolate with probiotics
A new study, published in ACS Food Science & Technology, suggests that adding prebiotics and probiotics to chocolate could enhance its health benefits, while maintaining flavour.Active cultures need food and protection to survive harsh gut conditions, so prebiotics such as dietary fibres and oligosaccharides (a type of carbohydrate found in certain vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes), are added to probiotic-containing products to create synbiotic foods. However, methods of adding prebiotics have proven labour-intensive, so the researchers explored prebiotics that would not require extensive processing in chocolate fortified with probiotics.They found that probiotic-enhanced chocolate with prebiotics, such as corn and honey, showed higher antioxidants levels and maintained the probiotics for over 125 days. What’s more, the flavour wasn’t compromised, in fact it was enhanced, with orange flavouring proving most popular with the researchers.“We enjoyed the orange-flavored chocolates the most, where the vibrant citrus notes complemented the rich cocoa, and it had a slightly softer texture that made each bite feel more luxurious,” says Smriti Gaur, a researcher on the study.However, the team did note that flavouring agents can influence […]
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