Webinar preview: Boosting tastier and healthier nutrition with Syensqo’s natural vanillin

11 Apr 2024 --- Syensqo highlights that natural vanillin can help F&B and nutrition manufacturers improve their product’s overall taste while meeting growing consumer demand for more functional and nutritional benefits.

Ahead of Syensqo’s upcoming webinar, How can natural vanillin tackle your taste challenges? Nutrition Insight meets with Dave Vanzin, the company’s technical marketing manager, to discuss the benefits of vanillin in nutrition and F&B products.

There’s a growing awareness among consumers about the importance of diet in health and well-being highlights Vanzin.

“Diets such as keto or paleo, which focus on high protein and low carbohydrate intake, have become popular over the last few years,” he notes. “High-protein diets are often associated with muscle building, weight management and satiety.”

“These diets often advocate for reduced sugar intake and increased consumption of protein-rich foods, influencing food product demand.”

Plant-based protein on the rise
Vanzin notes that one of the most important consequences of this focus on health, well-being and sustainability is a growing openness to test products containing alternative sources of proteins. “The desire to lower animal protein intake, combined with a clear understanding of the negative environmental impact of these proteins, is boosting demand for plant-based proteins.”

He explains that the rise in demand for plant-based protein products creates a significant taste challenge for nutrition manufacturers because the variety and source of plant proteins and manufacturing processes bring unpleasant off-notes to the final product.

“Each plant protein like soy, pea, or hemp is unique in taste and texture, meaning each must be addressed differently. Therefore, manufacturers must focus on multiple aspects, such as bitterness, astringency and earthy or vegetal notes, when seeking to improve product taste. Masking protein bitterness and off-notes is today’s major flavor challenge.”

In its upcoming webinar, Syensqo will discuss how natural vanillin can tackle F&B manufacturers’ taste challenges.Demand for sugar-reduced recipes
There is also increasing evidence linking high sugar consumption to various health issues beyond just dental health and obesity, including metabolic disorders, liver disease and cardiovascular problems.

Vanzin notes that this has led to public health campaigns and increased consumer awareness about the dangers of excessive sugar consumption.

However, he cautions that reducing sugar content in foods is a significant challenge for food technologists.

Indeed, replacing sugar with a single alternative is impossible due to its various functionalities and weight in a recipe. “Finding the right combination of ingredients to bring the right sweetness perception is key for consumers. That’s also where natural vanillin can play a role in solving the equation.”

More than vanilla taste
During the webinar, Syensqo will detail how vanillin can be used to improve the taste of high-content plant-based proteins and offset the metallic, stringent notes of sugar substitutes such as stevia or sucralose.

“We often think about using the vanillin only to replicate the vanilla taste but forget that the vanillin molecule also offers other unique properties and benefits,” underscores Vanzin.

“It can also be used, as you will see in the webinar, to mask off-notes from plant and animal protein-based nutrition products and to boost taste by increasing the mouthfeel in fat-reduced recipes and improving the sweetness effect in sugar-reduced recipes, for instance,” he continues. “And it has antioxidant and antimicrobial properties that improve shelf life.” 

The ingredient can be used in many applications, he highlights, such as bakery, breakfast cereals, chocolate, caramel and confectionery, fruit flavors, high protein bars and shakes, dairy products and beverages.

Vanzin states that the company has collaborated in a study with the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment to understand the scientific mechanism behind the masking properties of vanillin, which will be shared during the webinar.

By Jolanda van Hal