Despite significant progress in the fight against undernourishment in the past few years, poverty and food insecurity still constrain access to vital nutrients impacting, in particular, on the younger population. Specially formulated food, fortified with essential nutrients like soy proteins, can play a key role in this fight.
Maintaining a balanced and nutritious diet is critical for healthy growth, functioning organs and a strong immune system, as well neurological and cognitive development in children and adolescents. Nutrients, such as protein, minerals, fats or vitamins, are essential to staying healthy and protecting the body against illnesses. Under nutrition, a form of malnutrition often occurs when the diet doesn’t contain the minimum amount of these nutrients or if people are unable to fully utilise the food they eat due to illness.
The effects of under nutrition are vast and often result in a weakened immune system, lower energy levels and impaired functioning of the brain. One of the most common forms of undernourishment is protein deficiency. Often the result of poverty, inadequate sanitary conditions or poor breastfeeding, protein energy malnutrition can affect both adults and children.
The power of protein
Protein is made of amino acids, small units necessary for growth and tissue repair, which help to provide the body with its energy needs. The amount of protein needed depends heavily on the age and health of a person; however, in general it’s recommended that adults consume at least two or three servings of protein-rich food to meet their daily needs. Proteins can be found in animal sources, such as meat, fish, egg and dairy products, but are also available in a variety of plant sources. While most of these foods contain the full range of amino acids the body needs, people without access to these foods often depend on supplementary feeding to get the amino acids they need.
Some of the latest options to treat undernourishment include specially formulated products like fortified-blended items, commercial infant cereals, or ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTs). These products ensure rapid weight gain and are often used in school feeding programmes and other food aid programmes. However, raw material costs, nutritional quality and availability play a key role when it comes to the formulation of these foods, and not every ingredient is equally suited or effective.
Combating malnutrition effectively
One of the most common ingredients in supplementary food is soya beans. With a high protein content and protein utilisation score (the percentage of the available protein the body can use), the nutritional value of soya protein is comparable to that of cow’s and human breast milk. Soya protein ingredients also contain a higher amount of essential amino acids, such as tryptophan and lysine compared to corn, for example.
Although most fortified blended food is currently formulated with a blend of corn and soya flour or soy protein isolates, new solutions, such as soya protein concentrates, are able to offer improved nutritional profiles. One of the reasons for this is the higher protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS – a measure of protein quality) of soya protein concentrates. As a result, soya protein concentrates contain up to 15 per cent more protein than soya flour. This means that, by using soya protein concentrates, the nutritional value of fortified supplementary food can be increased significantly, while using less soy product. Furthermore, with soya protein concentrates, manufacturers are able to lower the costs per unit of protein, making them a much more cost-effective solution compared to other sources, such as animal proteins, dairy proteins or corn meal.
Besides price and nutritional value, there are several other benefits in using soya protein concentrates. Soya solutions, such as Arcon F from ADM, have been specifically developed to provide superior functionality over dairy proteins while offering cost savings and texturising advantages. These ingredients work by binding water, enhancing the organoleptic characteristics of supplementary foods through increased moisture management. This ultimately improves the texture and mouthfeel of the finished product.
High nutritional value
Another important consideration is taste. Animal-based proteins like whey or gelatine typically provide sensory attributes that are characteristic of the protein source, so flavours such as ‘cheesy’, ‘beefy’ and ‘milky’ can come through in the final product. Soya protein concentrates from ADM, on the other hand, are bland in flavour, making them ideal for a wide variety of specialty food applications like nutritional bars or porridge and even challenging formulations such as beverages. Additionally, the concentrated protein content of soya protein concentrates enables formulators to use lower dosages to achieve target protein levels. As a result, finished products have a less pronounced soy flavour than product formulated with soy flour.
Adequate nutrition plays a vital role in the promotion of growth and development. When it comes to the formulations of food supplements, manufacturers should look for ingredients that have a high nutritional value and are also competitively priced, readily available and well accepted amongst the consumers. ADM is committed to developing solutions that can help combat malnutrition and reduce food insecurity worldwide. Manufactured in Europe and in North America, the soya protein concentrates are of the highest quality, yet offer a more cost-effective alternative to soya flour or isolates due to their high protein content and longer shelf life. Easily processed and neutral in flavour, these new ingredients enable manufacturers to develop the products needed for a nutritious, yet affordable diet.
ADM’s Foods & Wellness Group offers a range of innovative specialty ingredients and products for the beverage, meat, snack, bakery, cereal, wellness and personal care markets. As a global market leader in food grade proteins, it also manufactures numerous health and nutrition products, lecithin, acidulants, hydrocolloids and polyols.
