WATCH: Nestle Health Science, Esperer Nutrition on NPD for glucose control nutrition via new formats and ingredients

Characterised by a high fasting glucose level – above 7.0 mmol/L – diabetes is a common chronic disease seen in many parts of Asia partly due to a carbohydrate-loaded diet.  

It ranks high on the national health care agenda for some countries, such as Singapore.

This is why Nestle Health Science has earmarked the South East Asia region as the launchpad for its new glucose control product.

Known as Nutren GlucoSmart, the product contains a clinically studied mulberry leaf extract supplied by UK firm Phynova​. It is also high in fibre and vitamin D.

“The main ingredient is high purity, high potency, mulberry leaf extract which slows down the digestion and absorption of sugar and carbohydrate,” ​Yu Cheng, Global Head of Metabolic Health at Nestle Health Science said.

Coming in the form of a powdered sprinkle, it can be mixed with food and drinks without altering the taste and texture.

“Nutren GlucoSmart can reduce glucose spike after a meal by up to 40 per cent. We have also shown that when mixed well and consumed together with food, Nutren GlucoSmart can achieve better results than consumed before the meal,”​ he added.

The new product is an addition to the firm’s Nutren Diabetes powdered beverage which could be consumed as a meal replacement or a snack. The product boasts a low glycemic index of 28.

Optifast, a range of products that are available in bars, soup, as a shake or dessert for weight management, is also part of the firm’s glucose control portfolio.  

“Weight management is really critical for the prevention and management of diabetes. It is shown that Optifast can help reduce fasting glucose, HbA1c (glycated haemoglobin), and reduce the use of expensive diabetes medications.”​

AI, big data, and nutrition​

On the other hand, Esperer Nutrition has pointed out that it would focus its NPD on the pre-diabetic individuals – which CEO and founder Raktim Chattopadhyay said was a much larger population than the diabetic patients and urgent actions were required to prevent the actual onset of diabetes.

“Pre-diabetes is a serious health condition…It is afflicting more people than diabetes, so considering that, we thought of developing a product for pre-diabetics,”​ he said.

Individuals who are pre-diabetic have a fasting glucose of 6.1 to 6.9 mmol/L, while a normal fasting glucose level should be less than 6.1 mmol/L.

The firm’s current glucose control product, Enorma Pre Diabetic Care​, contains banaba leaf extract, fenugreek extract, curcumin, grape seed extract, and bitter melon extract as the key ingredients. 

Moving forward, it will leverage on AI and big data for its pre-diabetic nutrition initiatives.

“We are also focusing on AI enabled disease detection, because the actual prevention has to be linked with the technology enabled detection system. ​

“AI is one of the key areas where nutrition can be linked with and analysing big data, only then the region-specific diabetic prevention can be done,”​ Chattopadhyay said.

Watch this episode of Nutrition Asia to find out more.