Increasing customer interest in fortified foods has prompted Tesco to uniquely start boosting fibre content in some of its most popular snacks.
In a move to help customers increase their dietary fibre Tesco has begun boosting fibre to own label foods starting with pies, pasties, sausage rolls and chilled breads.
It follows Government guidelines which recommended that the average daily intake of fibre needed to nearly double in order for Brits to lead a healthier lifestyle.
Tesco food developer Angela Hughes, who has overseen the move, lost her beloved grandfather to bowel cancer and her father also has the disease. When her doctor said there was a strong chance of her also contracting the hereditary disease she asked colleagues if she could use her expertise to try and help others avoid the same fate.
Hughes said, “Unfortunately my family has been very unlucky with bowel cancer but it has spurred on my motivation to do everything I can through my job to help others avoid contracting the disease.
“We have now started to boost the wheat content in some of our most popular foods such as pies, pasties, sausage rolls and garlic bread but without changing the taste, flavour or texture of these products. This will help millions of customers increase the fibre content in their diets.
“But this is only the start and we plan to go further by looking at other wheat based foods such as pizza as well as adding more fruit and vegetables to our recipes wherever possible.”
The British Nutrition Foundation, an advisory body on diet, says that fibre benefits health as it helps to keep our digestive system healthy such as preventing constipation and making waste pass through our bodies more quickly.
Its website states: 'Although the reasons for this are not fully understood, this may be because fibre increases stool size, dilutes content and moves it faster through the gut so the amount of time waste products stay in contact with the bowel is reduced.'
In 2015 the Government published new guidelines with a recommendation that the UK population’s fibre intake should increase to 30g a day for those aged 17 and over. On average we consume about only 18g per day.