Fueled for performance

There has been a significant leap in innovation for functional foods in recent years as the market experiences a steady growth and experts cite the sports nutrition sector a market to be reckoned with. According to Euromonitor, the combined market value for functional beverages and energy drinks in Asia Pacific will exceed SGD13.5 billion ($9.71 billion) by 2014. Traditionally catered to performance athletes, functional foods are now entering the mass market with more mainstream lifestyle products, thereby opening more opportunities to the food and beverage industry.

The basic of energy supply

According to market statistics, the benefits of using carbohydrates to control one's blood sugar levels are driving the sports nutrition market, which is currently dominated by sports drinks. The body needs glucose as an important fuel before, during, and after physical exertion, and even while it rests.

Carbohydrates and lipids are the two principal storage depots that are involved in generating useful energy. By far the body's largest energy source, the lipid reserves appear practically inexhaustible. For a male of a normal weight, lipids can store about 100,000 kilocalories, which give him enough energy to run more than 20 marathons. However, carbohydrate storage is limited. A healthy male can store about 350- 400g of glycogen. This is enough for one to two hours of exercise of moderate intensity.

These two energy sources differ in the way in which they deliver energy: carbohydrates are immediately available and are transformed rapidly into work while lipid metabolism proceeds more slowly due to a complex process. This is why the body would use its glycogen reserves when it performs a strenuous activity. If the glucose level in the blood declines, a drop in performance ensues. The challenge thus is to combat this drop in performance levels by raising the body's lipid metabolism capacity.

Metabolism and energy supply

Responsible for regulating the glycogen concentration in the blood, insulin is released in particularly large quantities after ingestion of high-glycaemic carbohydrates. However, it inhibits lipid metabolism. The readily metabolized carbohydrates rapidly enter the bloodstream, causing blood sugar concentration to rise quickly, but only to fall rapidly after a short time. In order to promote energy gain by fat burning while minimizing the proportion of energy derived from carbohydrates, the concentration of insulin in the blood should be as low as possible.

Beverage manufacturers need to find solutions to cater to this need, one of which is by using isomaltulose in their recipes. The ingredient is low glycaemic, low insulinemic, fully digestible and supplies just as much glucose energy as sugar (4kcal/g), but over a longer period of time. Isomaltulose is superior to low glycaemic carbohydrates such as soluble fibers - although the carbohydrates have a marginal effect on insulin levels, they do not provide sufficient amounts of glucose energy for physical and mental performance.

Improved fat burning

According to 3A Business Consulting, various studies have established that isomaltulose increases the proportion of energy derived from fat in energy consumption. This applies both to athletes and those leading less physically active lives. While energy balance - which is the ratio of calorie intake to expenditure - is important, isomaltulose does not increase the basal metabolic rate, which is the amount of energy expended at rest in a neutrally tempered environment. Isomaltulose increases the fat burning rate, or the proportion of overall energy production that comes from fat oxidation, allowing active consumers to draw on their carbohydrate reserves for a longer period of time and to burn fat more effectively.

The results showed isomaltulose to play a decisive role in weight management. Consumers can benefit from consuming the functional carbohydrate while exercising - they have energy in the form of glucose for a longer period of time during endurance sports and a greater proportion of energy can be released from body fat. This prevents total depletion of carbohydrate reserves, enhances endurance, and contributes to a better physical performance. Beverage and food concepts providing such benefits would have multiple product positioning possibilities and enormous market potential.

Stable osmolality

Sports drinks that are designed to improve energy release and accelerate recovery following exercise have become increasingly popular among professional athletes and enthusiastic amateurs. Depending on the intended application and market positioning, functional drinks can be formulated to supply salts, carbohydrates or proteins in varying concentrations.

Depending on ambient conditions, beverages that are sweetened with sucrose can suffer from unstable osmolality, which is the total amount of solute particles present in 1kg of liquid. Thus, a product labeled with the advantages of a specific concentration of solute particles in a beverage described as “isotonic” may not be efficacious due to the conditions it has been produced or stored in.

Studies have shown that products containing isomaltulose can maintain a constant osmolality even in acidic and pasteurized beverages, whether they are isotonic, hypotonic or hypertonic. This provides beverage manufacturers a flexible solution for applications in water, fruit or dairy-based products.

Next generation sugar

With a glycaemic index of 32, isomaltulose is a disaccharide that occurs naturally in honey and sugar cane. Produced from pure sugar beet, it has a sugar-like sweetness. Isomaltulose has a strong chemical bond between the glucose and fructose molecules, making it difficult to break down in the body. It also metabolizes slowly in the body. Hence, the blood glucose and insulin levels do not rise dramatically and energy release is sustained over a longer period of time, which is particularly relevant to endurance athletes.

Due to its non-hygroscopicity property, isomaltulose does not tend to absorb moisture from the ambient air and therefore it does not cake, remains dry and free-flowing even at high temperatures and in high levels of humidity. It is easy to process the ingredient into instant drinks as it does not affect production, makes the end product easy to store and it is easily soluble in water. It also has the same storage characteristics as sugar that is stored under normal conditions and at moderate temperatures.

The ingredient is also toothfriendly, a characteristic that has been scientifically proven by human interdental plaque-pH telemetry. Manufacturers can therefore replace sugar with isomaltulose and label the product with 'better-for-you' properties.

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