How Jungbunzlauer supports the new USDA Dietary Guidelines

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans in December 2020. Dietary guidelines are based on current scientific and medical knowledge to promote health, prevent disease, and guide professionals in treating chronic diseases.

Jungbunzlauer’s healthy ingredients address many areas of the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Furthermore, they are sustainable, bio-based additives to help exceed consumer expectations for cleaner labels while still maintaining great flavour and texture.

The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines focus on the prevalence of diet-related chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, with a particular focus on prevention and treatment. The guidelines also emphasize the importance of healthy dietary patterns at every stage of life, rather than individual foods and food groups. For the first time since 1985, the Dietary Guidelines include dietary recommendations for infants and toddlers.

To promote healthy dietary patterns and prevent disease, the guidelines encourage individuals to choose nutrient-dense foods and focus on under-consumed nutrients, while limiting foods and beverages high in added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee reports approximately 90% of Americans exceed the recommended intake of sodium and most exceed recommended limits for added sugar.[i]

When formulating healthier foods, taste is always on the forefront of people’s minds. Reducing sugar, sodium, saturated fat, and increasing healthy ingredients can lead to challenges in creating a food as delicious as the full sugar, sodium, and fat counterpart. Jungbunzlauer offers a variety of tools to help with formulation.

Sugar reduction
ERYLITE^® erythritol and blends of ERYLITE^® Stevia and ERYLITE^® Monk Fruit help replace sugar. These blends combine great taste, digestive tolerance, and the bulking functionality of ERYLITE^® along with the sweetening capacity of stevia plant extract or monk fruit. This results in a zero calorie sweetener with a sugar like taste.

Sodium reduction
A 1:1 replacement of salt with sub4salt^® allows for a 35% reduction of sodium, which does not compromise on taste and achieves functionality in the finished product. Other sodium reduction strategies include replacing sodium based salts with potassium-based salts (for example, exchanging sodium citrate with potassium citrate). Additionally, glucono-delta-lactone supports phosphate and sodium-free leavening in baking.  

Texture improvement
When reducing sugar and saturated fat, texture in finished products can be lost. TayaGel^®, a high acyl gellan gum, and xanthan gum, both improve texture and stabilisation in finished product goods.

Minerals for fortification
Calcium and potassium are both nutrients of concern. The USDA Dietary Guidelines report that close to 30% of men and 60% of women older than age 19 do not consume enough calcium.[ii] The National Health Examination Survey 2007-2010 reports 100% of the population was below the adequate intake level of the estimated average requirement of potassium.[iii] Tricalcium citrate (TCC) and calcium lactate gluconate (CLG) are important calcium salts used in calcium-fortified products due to their neutral taste, calcium content, and bioavailability. TCC provides excellent suspension and CLG great solubility. Potassium gluconate, tripotassium citrate, and potassium lactate are great options for potassium fortification in foods, beverages, and supplements.

Taste improvement
Choosing a complementary acid for your formula helps with pH control and improves the taste profile, modifies sourness, adjusts astringency perception, and modulates flavour in your product. Jungbunzlauer offers citric acid, lactic acid, gluconic acid, and glucono-delta-lactone. Buffers act as pH control agents, and help mask bitter notes from high-intensity sweeteners, plant proteins, vitamins, and caffeine, among others. Jungbunzlauer offers a variety of buffers, like sodium and potassium gluconate, sodium and potassium citrate, and sodium and potassium lactate. Sodium gluconate is a flavour with modifying properties and has FEMA GRAS status (FEMA no. 4934).

Jungbunzlauer’s Application Technology Centers are hard at work, providing functional knowledge of ingredient incorporation in healthy finished products. Recipe cards and applications support are available upon request.