Within the nutraceutical industry, enzymes are used as ingredients added to digestive aid supplements to support break down of fats, carbohydrates and proteins, or allergens such as lactose.
Like much of the food industry, the nutraceutical market has seen an increasing demand for vegetarian and vegan alternatives as consumers look to move away from animal products due to concerns with sustainability. This has meant companies are increasingly looking for alternatives to enzymes, like pepsin and pancreatin, which have traditionally been used as digestive aids.
Using Lipases to Produce Nutritional Food Ingredients
Nutritional food ingredients take many shapes and forms, each delivering its own unique benefits to consumers. Lipases can be used to selectively hydrolyse fatty acids to improve the nutritional value of oil and fat substrates.
Enzymes are frequently used, whether in digestive aid supplements, production of protein peptides or hydrolysates as healthy ingredients and even to produce Omega 3s with greater nutritional content.
Lactase for the digestion of the primary sugar lactose found in milk, suitable for use in dietary supplements for the effective management of lactose intolerance.