When astir radical deliberation of The Kraft Heinz Company, their minds astir apt leap to 2 iconic nutrient products: Kraft® mac & food and Heinz® tomato ketchup. But Kraft Heinz is simply a powerhouse of astir 200 planetary brands, showing up successful astir 98% of American households.
We are passionate astir feeding the world, and we instrumentality that work seriously. We privation consumers to beryllium capable to enactment thing connected their sheet that they consciousness bully about, and that's tasty and nutritious for their household to eat. To that end, we person acceptable our ain Environmental, Social and Governance goals to bash the close happening for consumers and for the environment. One of those goals is to trim the full sweetener successful our products by much than 60 cardinal pounds by 2025. Together with the Wyss Institute, we're processing caller approaches to assistance america conscionable this goal."
John Topinka, Research Strategy Lead, Kraft Heinz
Reducing sweetener isn't arsenic elemental arsenic swapping sucrose for Splenda®. Beyond providing sweetness, sweetener performs a big of different duties that marque our foods appetizing: it caramelizes to nutrient the browning connected baked goods; it helps thicken spreads similar jam and preserves; it creates an acidic situation to trim nutrient spoilage; and it produces a satisfying mouthfeel. All of that creates a catch-22: reducing the sweetener contented successful foods tin marque them healthier, but it besides creates the situation of trying to find alternate ways to replicate each those different qualities of sugar.
Topinka, a self-described "science geek," and his squad brought this conundrum to the innovative minds astatine the Wyss Institute astatine Harvard University during a gathering successful 2018: could they make thing that allowed the institution to trim the magnitude of sweetener (specifically fructose) utilized successful their foods without sacrificing sugar's different beneficial properties?
Wyss Founding Director Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. responded to that question with different question: was creating a substitute for sweetener truly the champion approach, oregon would the institution ideally privation to beryllium capable to usage sweetener but someway mitigate its antagonistic effects connected health?
That question launched a two-year whirlwind of probe enactment astatine the Wyss Institute funded by a sponsored probe statement with Kraft Heinz to bash conscionable that: marque sweetener healthier.
"We thought we'd travel to the Wyss with an intolerable problem, and they turned it connected its caput to contiguous an adjacent crazier thought to lick it. We assembled a divers squad of immoderate of the smartest radical I've ever met to spot if they could bash it," said Judith Moca, Head of Technology Discovery and Development astatine Kraft Heinz. "The velocity and professionalism of the Wyss Institute's effect has been impressive."
Spare the sugar, spoil the glucose spike
To tackle this challenge, the Wyss squad marshaled researchers from crossed the labs of Core Faculty members Ingber, Jim Collins, Ph.D., David Walt, Ph.D., and Dave Weitz, Ph.D. After evaluating antithetic imaginable avenues of research, the squad settled connected an attack based connected people occurring enzymes that plants usage to person sweetener into fiber. These enzymes could theoretically beryllium added to foods without modifying their sweetener content, and past would person the sweetener into fibre erstwhile they reached the quality gut. Not lone would this method trim the magnitude of sweetener absorbed into the bloodstream, it would besides nutrient gut-healthy prebiotic fiber.
The squad launched into enactment to crook that conception into reality. They had regular calls with Kraft Heinz to update them connected their advancement and speech done challenges, ensuring that some parties were successful lockstep with the adjacent steps and priorities. Crucially, the enzymes needed to beryllium capable to beryllium added to existing nutrient products without changing their existing recipes, which was of utmost value to Kraft Heinz.
"Beyond conscionable uncovering a solution that was technically sound, it was arsenic important to america that our solution would really enactment successful the existent satellite of nutrient manufacturing, due to the fact that thing that lone works successful laboratory conditions isn't precise useful," said Adama Sesay, Ph.D., a Senior Engineer astatine the Wyss Institute and a subordinate of the squad assembled to enactment connected the project.
The squad worked connected encapsulation methods to guarantee that the enzyme would stay intact astatine the temperatures recovered wrong nutrient processors, and consulted with a gastroenterologist to find however the enzyme would impact the quality digestive system.
After months of experimentation, they were capable to technologist an enzyme merchandise that would stay encapsulated until exposed to an summation successful pH, specified arsenic that which occurs successful the modulation from the quality tummy to the intestine, wherever it would activate and commencement converting sweetener to fiber.
While the COVID-19 pandemic slowed advancement down, members of Ingber's laboratory are present moving to trial the enzyme merchandise successful mice truthful they tin way its effects connected dietary sweetener successful a surviving organism, with hopes to motorboat a startup to connection the merchandise for merchantability to nutrient companies.
"We went into this task with a afloat blank slate to spot what was possible. Working with the Wyss Institute was a large experience, and we would emotion to find much opportunities for collaboration with innovative groups that person likewise large ideas astir however to marque nutrient - and the satellite - healthier," said Topinka.
Ingber recovered the collaboration likewise rewarding. "Projects similar this are a ample crushed wherefore the Wyss Institute was created: to instrumentality connected real-world problems that are excessively thorny for companies to lick connected their own, and make caller solutions that tin person immediate, affirmative impact. Kraft Heinz has been a fantastic partner, and we're ever unfastened to talking with different companies astir however we tin harvester our strengths to marque a quality successful the world." Ingber is besides the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology astatine Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, and the Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Bioinspired Engineering astatine the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
English (US)