On April 11th the BENEO-Group organised in Brussels its 1st European Scientific Symposium on the Impact of Functional Carbohydrates on Energy Metabolism.
The organisation of this event shows our commitment to the Group’s mission. BENEO is an innovation-driven organisation with a clear R&D strategy. The BENEO-Group builts its success and credibility based on ‘science’. Individually the companies within the Group have a long tradition of organising scientific events, most notable being BENEO-Orafti’s research conferences and symposia which have been run for over 10 years. The BENEO-Group’s 1st Asian Research Symposium also took place in December 2007 and offered a forum for the latest cutting edge scientific findings on functional carbohydrates and prebiotics within the region.
The 1st European Scientific Symposium held in Brussels on April 11th 2008 brought together a panel of international experts and scientists, working in the area of functional carbohydrates, prebiotics and their interaction with energy metabolism and health. It was chaired by Prof. J. Blundell, Director of the Institute of Psychological Sciences at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom and Prof. A. Astrup, Department of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Life Sciences from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
As obesity continues to be viewed as a serious and growing public health problem, this symposium focused on how functional carbohydrates do impact on energy metabolism. Carbohydrates are the major part of our daily diet, however, up to now, not much attention has been given to the diversity of their physiological effects, depending on the specific type of carbohydrate. The same is true for dietary fibres and prebiotics. Topics such as glycaemic response and its impact on health, prolonged energy release, sports nutrition, appetite and food intake regulation, and body weight management were discussed.
Solid scientific research is one of the main drivers of our Group and in the next issue of this scientific newsletter - which will be revamped and launched as a BENEO-Group periodical - we will take the opportunity to extensively report on the Brussels symposium and the latest research results in the area of functional carbohydrates.
The BENEO-Group gives us indeed a wider area of expertise and as a consequence the next issue will reach you with a new name, a new look, and a content that reflects the Group’s mission ‘Connecting nutrition and health’.
We are convinced that the BENEO-Group will open up new opportunities and benefits and we will continue even stronger than before to pioneer the functional food industry through product innovation, marketing, scientific and regulatory support as well as first-class customer relationship programs as the Group transitions into a new era.
Speaker topics included:
»Obesity and body weight management
»Mechanisms and biomarkers of appetite regulation
»Physiological diversities of carbohydrates
»Long-term effects of low glycaemic carbohydrates in
diabetics and overweight subjects
»Postprandial energy metabolism of low glycaemic carbohydrates
»Nutritional and health effects of prebiotic fibres
»Mechanisms and animal data on food intake regulation
»Evidence on appetite and food intake regulation from human studies
»Dietary fibres, prebiotics, and body weight management
»The future for functional carbohydrates
In the face of the new emerging opportunities in the functional food market, increasing globalisation, and increased importance of adequate nutritional policies, Südzucker AG has taken the decision to create a Functional Food Group to rise to these new challenges. At the latest Food Ingredients Europe fair, the creation of this Functional Food Group - the BENEO-Group - was announced.
The Südzucker Group has a turnover of € 5.8 billion and employs more than 20.000 people. The Group’s manufacturing facilities are spread over 67 sites worldwide.
BENEO-Orafti
BENEO-Orafti is the world leader in the production of chicory ingredients. Its products include active food ingredients such as inulin and oligofructose for the food and animal nutrition industries. With a head office in Tienen, Belgium, the company operates in more than 75 countries and has production units in Oreye (Belgium), and Pemuco (Chile).
BENEO-Remy
BENEO-Remy is a world market leader in the production of rice derivatives like starches, flours, proteins and recently also stabilised rice bran. The company’s product portfolio also includes Nutriz, a rice concentrate that is used in non-dairy drinks and desserts. Remy-products are sold in diverse applications like baby food, breakfast cereals, biscuits, prepared meals, soups & sauces, and dairy products. BENEO-Remy has production sites in Belgium and Italy and services the world market through a sales network of distributors in more than 45 countries.
BENEO-Palatinit
BENEO-Palatinit develops, manufactures and markets ISOMALT, the N°1 sugar replacer in hard candies worldwide and the only one made from real sugar. Recently, Palatinit introduced the new sugar Palatinose™. It is the only low glycaemic carbohydrate that provides prolonged energy in the form of glucose to the body. BENEO-Palatinit also introduced a new multifunctional pharmaceutical excipient for the formulation of solid dosage forms under the brand name galenIQ™. With a global network of sales agencies in more than 45 countries, Palatinit supplies food and pharmaceutical markets around the world with production facilities that are located in Offstein (Germany).
Leading food ingredients companies BENEO-Orafti, BENEO-Remy and BENEO-Palatinit form the BENEO-Group. ‘Connecting nutrition and health’ summarises the Group’s mission to ensure BENEO becomes one of the industry’s preferred innovative partners. With a business vision for the next ten years already in place, the combination of Orafti, Palatinit and Remy under the group name, BENEO, is a major step in providing partners and end users alike with many exciting new food ingredients. The unity of the three companies will better enable the Group to optimise its unique, connected chain of expertise in the most efficient way possible.
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