Heart-Health Fiber Artinia Improves “Crunch” in Breakfast Cereal

Artinia, a chitin-glucan fiber with cardiovascular benefits especially for LDL cholesterol, was tested in extruded breakfast cereal and exhibited “remarkable” sensory and physical characteristics, reports the ingredient’s firm Stratum Nutrition (St. Louis, MO).

Stratum says that Artinia in cereal provided functional benefits such as lowering the cereal’s “solubility, therefore creating ‘less sogginess.’”

“The higher the inclusion rate of Artinia in the extruded cereal, the higher the porosity, and thus, the Textural Peak Force-i.e., the ‘crunchiness’-was improved,” the company states.

The cereal trial was performed in collaboration with the Wenger Technical Research Facility (Sabetha, KS) and the Food Processing Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

This past June, Stratum Nutrition also reported that Artinia exhibited excellent sensory and quality ratings in baked goods-such as bread, muffins, and cookies-in trials performed by the American Institute of Baking.

Stratum said that in terms of sensory attributes, Artinia may work better as a “drop-in” ingredient compared to other fibers, and may also require less energy to make dough-particularly because of the ingredient’s low viscosity and unique water-withholding capabilities.

“Artinia is a highly flexible ingredient to work with, where it can easily be added to batter, dough, or sponge, without reformulation,” the company said. “By simply adding Artinia to an existing formula, adjusting the water level, blending, and baking, the dough responds positively to mixing, handling, and machining.”

Artinia was self-affirmed GRAS for food and beverages last year.