Nut Butters Now Include Probiotics

Photo from Naturally More

Naturally More, a nut butter line sold at stores including Walmart, is now including probiotics in the mix. The brand has launched three new products incorporating probiotics: peanut butter, almond butter, and chocolate hazelnut spread. The products are sold in jars as well as in travel-friendly pouches.

The products use organic Valencia peanuts, hazelnuts, and California-grown almonds; are sweetened with coconut sugar; and also include healthy omega-3s from flaxseed. The company says the addition of probiotics allows the products to support digestive and immune health and to enhance protein absorption.

The probiotic used is the Ganeden BC30 Bacillus coagulans strain from Ganeden Biotech (Cleveland). Naturally More co-owner Ann Billek said in a press release that the company “added probiotics to create something truly unique. The result is the most complete line of probiotic-boosted nut butters on the market and the only one to offer both jars and pouches for maximum customer choice.” She added that the probiotics in the nut butters are “10 times more effective than yogurt cultures,” based on independent lab tests of a simulated gastric environment with a pH of 2.0 for two hours.

In 2012, Ganeden announced a study published in Beneficial Microbes showing that Ganeden BC30 may help increase absorption of amino acids from protein. This would benefit those consuming a high-protein product like Naturally More’s nut butters-a point the brand is also promoting.

Billek adds that the line meets the demands of today’s consumers. “These include not only the growing consumer preference for probiotics and digestive health, but also demand for plant- and nut-based proteins, natural sweeteners like coconut sugar, and the idea of natural protein function.”

Also read:

Functional Food: Is Demand There?

Buttery Spread Now Includes Probiotics

Jennifer Grebow
Editor-in-Chief
Nutritional Outlook magazine
jennifer.grebow@ubm.com