As Asian consumers become increasingly invested in digestive health and overall wellbeing, food and beverage brands are under growing pressure to reformulate their products.
This involves striking a careful balance between taste, convenience and functionality, ensuring products appeal to modern consumers without compromising on health benefits.
What was once a niche conversation around gut health has now entered the mainstream, with consumers connecting digestive wellness to broader aspects of lifestyle, including immunity, mood and sustained energy. This shift coincides with the push for reduced sugar intake and healthier snacking options, creating both challenges and opportunities for product innovation.
Soluble fibres can play a central role in meeting these evolving expectations. By fermenting slowly in the gut, they nourish beneficial microbiota without causing discomfort, while promoting regularity and healthy bowel function.
They also help moderate blood glucose responses and enhance satiety, supporting overall metabolic balance. Beyond these physiological benefits, their functional properties – improving texture and providing bulk – allow reduced-sugar or nutrient-enriched products to remain palatable and enjoyable.
To support these developments, Roquette’s Nutriose® soluble fibre is a clinically studied ingredient that enables the creation of snacks and beverages that combine taste, texture and digestive well-being.
The importance of gut health
Digestive wellness in Asia has entered a new era, moving beyond traditional associations with yogurt and fermented products to encompass total wellbeing, immunity and even mood. Scientific research highlighting the gut as a ‘second brain’ resonates within a region where there is a growing awareness of the importance of the gut microbiota.¹
Across Asia, products featuring claims of improved gut health are gaining ground, with research suggesting that 33% of Asian consumers purchase food and beverages that offer such benefits.² This reflects the mainstreaming of gut-conscious consumption and signals a shift in how manufacturers can approach functional food development. Understanding how certain ingredients can deliver these benefits to consumers can be crucial for future growth in the region.
Roquette has invested in scientific research to understand how Nutriose interacts with the gut microbiota and supports digestive health. Clinical trials show that Nutriose supplementation in healthy adults increases beneficial bacteria and reduces populations of pathogens while maintaining digestive comfort.³
Additional ex-vivo studies also demonstrated that Nutriose improves gut barrier integrity and modulates immune responses by increasing short-chain fatty acid production, upregulating anti-inflammatory cytokines and protecting epithelial cells.⁴
The balancing act
Dovetailing with this growing consumer desire for products that provide gut health benefits is the rise in demand for reduced sugar products. Lowering levels of sugar has become a core focus of product reformulation, driven by regulatory measures and rising consumer awareness of the impact of high sugar intake on weight management and metabolic health. Yet successful reformulation requires more than cutting sweetness; it depends on maintaining the texture, mouthfeel and balance to ensure that a product is both indulgent and functional.
Nutriose offers a dual advantage in this regard. It has a low glycaemic response and ability to modulate sweetness, enabling meaningful sugar reductions while supporting steady energy release.⁵ At the same time, its functional properties – including the capacity to build body, enhance smoothness and improve overall mouthfeel – allow reduced-sugar products to retain an enjoyable texture.
Building on these functional and nutritional properties, Nutriose can be used across a range of applications, such as gummies, fibre-fortified teas, chewy fruit bars, yogurt drinks and protein snacks. Each of these types of products support reduced-sugar formulations while maintaining texture and digestive functionality.
Fibre delivers a functional product
The desires around snacking are shifting in Asia as consumers look to be able to combine indulgence with functional benefits. Consumers increasingly seek snacks that do more, combining convenience with contributions to overall health, such as digestive support or sustained energy.
In response, fibre-enriched formats – including granola bites, chewy bars and fruit gummies – are gaining traction across the region’s fast-paced, on-the-go culture. These products not only satisfy taste and texture expectations but also align with consumers’ desire for healthier, purposeful snacking.
Nutriose supports the development of these next-generation snacks, offering a combination of functional and technological benefits. Its stability during processing, resistance to heat, and neutral taste make it particularly well-suited for incorporation into a wide range of formats without compromising sensory quality.
By enabling fibre fortification and maintaining product appeal, soluble fibre facilitates the creation of snacks that meet evolving consumer demands for convenience, enjoyment and health.
Delivering sustained energy
Building on its functional and sensory benefits in snack applications, Nutriose also contributes to digestive comfort, blood glucose management and prolonged satiety, extending its value beyond texture and sweetness to support sustained energy for consumers.
Clinical studies have demonstrated that Nutriose supports digestive comfort, helps manage blood glucose levels and promotes longer satiety, making it a valuable ingredient for active, busy consumers seeking sustained energy.
A randomized controlled trial involving 78 healthy adults in Singapore found that daily supplementation with 40g of Nutriose for eight weeks significantly improved 24-hour glucose homeostasis, particularly in individuals with an overweight status.⁶
Additionally, a study reported that Nutriose supplementation at doses ranging from 8g to 24g per day progressively increased short-term satiety and decreased feelings of hunger over time.⁷ These findings position soluble fibre as a potential ingredient in the ‘controlled energy’ category, ideal for formulating products that deliver both functional benefits and sensory appeal.
Providing the foundation for healthy snacks
The intersection of gut health, sugar reduction and evolving snacking habits presents a significant opportunity for innovation in the food and beverage sector in Asia. As consumers increasingly seek products that combine convenience, enjoyment and functional benefits, brands that adapt to this evolving market with indulgent and functional products can position themselves to lead this transformation.
Roquette possesses over 20 years of scientific experience in the fibre space, as well as having conducted 26 clinical studies and more than 30 preclinical studies on the subject, with this expertise directed into developing Nutriose.
Science-backed soluble fibres, such as Nutriose, provide a versatile foundation for developing products that are not only lower in sugar and supportive of digestive wellness but also maintain desirable taste, texture and satiety.
Tomorrow’s ‘sugar-free’ will be defined not by what’s removed – but by what’s added. Soluble fibres bring back balance, taste and wellness in one solution.
References:
- Biocodex Microbiota Institute. China 2025: knowledge and behaviors about microbiota.
- Innova Market Insights. Top Food Trends 2025 in Asia: Consumer Insights and Preferences.
- Thirion, F.; et al. Diet Supplementation with NUTRIOSE, a Resistant Dextrin, Increases the Abundance of Parabacteroides distasonis in the Human Gut. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2022 Jun;66(11):e2101091.
- Perreau, C.; et al. Ex Vivo Colonic Fermentation of NUTRIOSE® Exerts Immuno-Modulatory Properties and Strong Anti-Inflammatory Effects. Nutrients. 2023;15(19), 4229.
- Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of a health claim related to Nutriose® 06 and a reduction of post‐prandial glycaemic responses pursuant to Article 13 (5) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. EFSA Journal. 2014;12(10), 3839.
- Ang, J.; et al. NUTRIOSE® soluble fibre supplementation as an effective dietary strategy to improve glycaemic response. Eur J Nutr. 2025 Apr 1;64(3):143.
- Guérin-Deremaux, L.; et al. The soluble fiber NUTRIOSE induces a dose-dependent beneficial impact on satiety over time in humans. Nutrition research. 2021; 31(9), 665-672.
