Nutritional tablet

Abstract

To improve the solubility and the speed of dissolution of nutritional tablets comprising protein, fat and carbohydrates, dietary fibers are included in the nutritional tablets.

Claims

1. A composition comprising fat, protein and carbohydrates, wherein the carbohydrates comprise dietary fibers in an amount between 1 and 15 wt % of the total composition, wherein the composition is in the form of a tablet with a hardness of 15 N to 250 N when tested in a hardness tester wherein a force is applied horizontally on the tablet with a constant test speed of 2 mm/s, and at least one of the dietary fibers is selected from the group consisting of galactooligosaccharides and long chain fructooligosaccharides.

2. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the dietary fibers comprise at least long chain fructooligosaccharides.

3. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the dietary fibers comprise at least galactooligosaccharides.

4. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the dietary fibers comprise a mixture of galactooligosaccharides and fructans.

5. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the dietary fibers consist of galactooligosaccharides and long chain fructooligosaccharides.

6. The composition according to claim 1, which has a dissolution of 95% in less than 35 seconds at 40 degrees Celsius.

7. The composition according to claim 1, comprising between 7 and 25 wt % protein, 30 and 70 wt % carbohydrates, 10 and 30 wt % fat, based on the total weight of the composition.

8. The composition according to claim 7, comprising 8 to 10 wt % protein, 55 to 65 wt % carbohydrates, and 15 to 25 wt % fat, based on the total weight of the composition.

9. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the fat comprises poly-unsaturated fatty acids.

10. The composition according to claim 9, wherein the fat comprises at least 1 wt % poly-unsaturated fatty acids based on the total weight of the composition.

11. The composition according to claim 9, wherein the fat comprises at least 0.1 wt % EPA or DHA or a mixture thereof based on the total weight of the composition.

12. The composition according to claim 11, wherein the fat comprises between 1 and 5 wt % EPA or DHA or a mixture thereof based on the total weight of the composition.

13. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the composition is an infant formula, a follow on formula, a toddler milk or formula or a growing up milk.

14. A method for the dietary management of growth in infants between 0 and 36 months of age, comprising reconstituting the composition according to claim 1 and administering the reconstituted composition to the infant.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURE

(1) FIG. 1 shows the influence of dietary fibres in tablets on reconstitution.

(2) From the results it can be clearly seen that with a hardness between 15N and 30N as measured using a Schleuniger hardness tester and a force that was applied horizontally on the tablet with a constant test speed of 2 mm/s the tablets with the dietary fibers have a much shorter dissolving time and a better reconstitution than the composition without dietary fibers. A 95% reconstitution is regarded as sufficiently dissolved.

Example 2

Comparison of Medical Food Powders with and without Dietary Fibers on Reconstitution

(3) TABLE-US-00001 Medical powders Code 120493 120805 Name Nutrient (per 100 ml Nutrison - control Nutrison MF - active after dissolution) Unit 100 ml 100 ml Energy (KJ) kJ 415 420 Energy (kcal) kcal 99 100 ProtEquiPD g 4.0 4..0 Carbohydrate g 12.1 12.3 Sugars g 1.9 1.9 Glucose g 1.9 1..9 Lactose g <0.03 <0.03 Maltose g 1.4 1.3 PolySach g 10.0 10.1 Starch g 0.0 0.2 Fibre g 0.0 1.5 (7.5 wt %) Soluble g 0.0 0.9 Insoluble g 0.0 0.6 Fat Total g 3.9 3.9 Porosity (%) 77 73 Reconstitution at 20 55% 81% seconds

(4) Tablets, prepared as described in example 1, wherein the food is a medical food. All ingredients were kept constant, except for the fibers. The hardness of the tablets was 16 N. The fibers in this composition comprise soy polysaccharides, resistant starch, inulin, Arabic gum cellulose and oligo fructose. As is clear from the result, the reconstitution at 20 seconds is much higher in the fiber containing product compared to the control product. Also at 60 seconds there was a relevant difference in reconstitution of 98% for the active and 91% for the control product.

Example 3

Comparison Between Infant Milk Formula with and without Galactooligosaccharides and Inulin on Reconstitution

(5) TABLE-US-00002 Name Control Active ProtEquiPD g 1.3 1.3 Carbohydrate g 8.1 7.9 Fibre g 0.0 0.62 (5 wt %) Fat Total g 3.5 3.5 Porosity 36 38 Dissolution at 20 seconds 50% 70%

(6) Tablets were prepared as described in example 1. The hardness of the tablets was between 15 and 16 N. In this example a particularly strong effect on dissolution was measured when comparing this infant formula with and without GOS/inulin. Also at 60 second, the dissolution of the active was 97% while the control was only 82%.