ISSUE FOCUS 36 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE December 2022 Gut health is big business in human and animal nutrition. However, not all added fibres have been created equal. Here Dr Maygane Ronsmans, Product Manager Animal Nutrition at BENEO, discusses why prebiotic chicory root fibres are best for promoting gut health and the other range of benefits they can offer pet owners and pet food producers alike. For some time now, animal digestive health has been tracking the popularity seen in human nutrition. In fact, even before the pandemic had made pet owners more health conscious, a study showed that 76% of cat and dog owners believed that actively looking after their pet’s digestive health was essential for their overall health. Following its global research in 2021, BENEO was able to identify ten key drivers that cat and dog owners perceived were vital to making pet foods seem healthier. TEN KEY DRIVERS TO HEALTHIER PET FOOD PERCEPTIONS Almost 90% of cat and dog owners said that using natural ingredients was their number one way for pet food to seem healthier to them, closely followed by using less or no preservatives and additives. Reducing fat and adding fibre were seen as strong influencers by over 80% of pet owners, and of similar importance was having recognisable ingredients on the label, that were also not genetically modified. Three quarters also wanted to know where the ingredients had been sourced from and they wanted to see a short ingredients list on pack. Interestingly, plant-based ingredients and the addition of prebiotics also made products seem healthier to over 70% of cat and dog owners. DIGESTIVE HEALTH BECOMES MAINSTREAM With added fibre and prebiotics two of the key drivers to make a pet food seem healthier to pet owners, it is no surprise that digestive health has well and truly moved into the mainstream. In fact, 83% of dog and 84% of cat owners consider digestive health as extremely or very important. Today around 1 in 4 global new pet food products promotes a digestive health claim or prebiotic benefit on package. The link between a pet’s digestive health and their overall health has been made by pet owners, however, not all fibres are the same. At present, a wide range of fibres can be used in dog foods. These include insoluble fibre sources such as cellulose or blends of insoluble and soluble fibres, which include sugar beet pulp and wheat bran, as well as fully soluble fibre sources such as inulin-type fructans. Based on the fibre type, they behave differently in a pet’s digestive system, significantly influencing their potential digestive health benefits. THE NATURAL WAY TO SUPPORT A PET’S GUT HEALTH Dr Maygane Ronsmans Product Manager Animal Nutrition BENEO
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