A Beverage A Day Keeps the Pounds Away

Being stable and nutritionally sound is essential for weight-loss beverages; but, repeat sales won’t occur if the product doesn’t taste good. Products formulated for health instead of taste need the magic of flavor houses to make drinking them a memorable experience. Flavors can mask undesired characteristics from added ingredients, enhance existing flavors and create the signature taste of weight-loss beverages.

Bob Nelson, senior applications scientist for Flavors of North America, said product-specific masking flavors are a requirement in most nutraceutical products. “Bitterness is the most common negative attribute,” he noted. “There are also off-notes caused by specific ingredients, such as proteins and sweeteners.” A careful balance of ingredients is needed to minimize negative attributes. For example, increasing sweetness can help mask bitterness as long as any off-flavors from high-intensity sweeteners are kept in check.

Soy’s notorious beany flavor has been mostly tamed, but with use levels of more than 10 grams per serving, the flavor of soy protein needs to be addressed. “Soy still has a flavor, and while being continually improved upon, masking flavors are essential in everything we do and are available from all the major flavor suppliers today,” Egbert said.

The flavor of the weight-loss beverage is impacted as the formulation moves away from balanced amounts of protein, fat and carbohydrates. Reducing the level of carbohydrates will impact mouthfeel, high protein levels will contribute undesirable amine notes, and lubricity and mouthfeel is lost as fat is reduced, Nelson said. Masking flavors can help to cover up the off-flavors from protein and high-intensity sweeteners, and flavors can also “fool the palate into thinking that there is some fat in there,” he added.

In formulating weight-loss products, there are two overriding messages. First, most of the ingredients will impact more than one characteristic of the product and must be evaluated in the complete system. Second, the best ingredient to meet a particular need is usually a blend. The consumer is increasingly sophisticated in the areas of nutrition and flavor, and complexity in the formulation can please the palate. 

Editor’s Note: The full version of this article originally appeared in the March 2005 issue of Food Product Design, a sister publication of Natural Products INSIDER. Get the complete version online at www.foodproductdesign.com/articles/465/465_0305HN.html. 

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