Protein and fiber are having a moment – driven in part by consumer interest in weight management and companion products for GLP-1 medications – and at the intersection of both are new products from Bob’s Red Mill featuring a “revolutionary hull-less variety” of oats from Bay State Milling.
This month, Bob’s Red Mill is launching new Overnight Protein Oats featuring Bay State Milling’s SowNaked Mindfully Farmed Oats, which also is the single ingredient in Bob’s Red Mill’s first-to-market Protein Oats that debuted in late 2023.
“What we love about this oat is the simplicity of it. It is just oats and old-fashioned farming. Our supplier worked well over a decade on breeding this crop so that it has up to 60% more protein than regular oats. That allows us to deliver 10 grams of protein from just the oat – no additional protein powders, nothing else,” Daniel Barba, vice president of marketing at Bob’s Red Mill, explained at Natural Products Expo West.
For comparison, conventional rolled oats have 6 grams of protein per 48 gram serving, according to Bob’s Red Mill.
Barba noted the company “had a great deal of success” with the Protein Oats, which are available in organic and conventional varieties, and wondered what else it could do with the ingredient.
“We initially thought we could do more of an instant oatmeal, but this is not the right oat for that because it is a little bit thicker and so it came out burnt, crispy and nothing that looks like an instant oatmeal,” he said.
“But,” he added, “what we found it is great for is an overnight oat, because it is a little bit thicker and so keeps its texture and still has 10 grams of protein per serving. And if you use yogurt or milk to make it, you will inherently have even more protein.”
Available in two flavors – blueberries & cream and vanilla almond – the Overnight Protein Oats are also an excellent source of fiber with six grams per serving, allowing consumers “to get their day off to a good start,” Barba added.
Meeting rising consumer demand for protein and fiber
The Protein Oats and Overnight Protein Oats answer rising consumer demand for more protein and more fiber.
More than 70% of consumers want to increase their protein intake, according to the 2024 International Food Information Council Food & Health Survey.
Fiber comes in a close second to protein among the functional ingredients that most interest consumers, according to Innova Market Insights, which found two in five consumers are “highly interested in fiber-providing ingredients.”
The consumer research group also found ages may influence the perception of fiber’s importance and whether “fiber” versus “prebiotic” is a more effective callout. It noted, seven in ten consumers older than 55 years old say they accept fiber in their food compared to only 51% of consumers 18 to 24 years old. Alternatively, younger consumers tend to value prebiotic claims more than consumers older than 55 years.
Despite consumer interest in fiber, most Americans consume only about 16.9 grams per day, which is far less than the 28 grams recommended by FDA.
For years, much of the conversation around fiber has focused on digestion and “gut health,” which 39% of consumers prioritize, according to Ingredion’s proprietary ATLAS consumer research survey published in 2023.
But with the introduction and rapid uptake of GLP-1 medication use in the US, the conversation around fiber – and protein – is changing to focus on satiety, weight management and blood glucose management.
GLP-1 use increases demand for nutrient-density, protein & fiber
This intensifying focus on GLP-1 companion products or ingredients that mimic the drug’s affect is creating new opportunities for products – like Bay State Milling’s SowNaked Mindfully Farmed Oats – that are high in protein and fiber and which also check other top consumer priorities including clean label, non-GMO, gluten-free and environmentally-friendly.
“The GLP-1 diet medications are causing people to look for more nutrition in smaller packaging, and it is causing people to look at labels a lot more closely. So, we are very enthusiastic about bringing increased nutrient density through crops,” such as the SowNaked Oats, said Colleen Zammer, vice president of varietal solutions growth & corporate innovation at Bay State Milling.
She explained that Bay State Milling worked closely with researchers at Montana State for years to ensure the higher protein in the SowNaked Oats are consistently expressed so that manufacturers can boost the protein content in their products with a simple, naturally occurring ingredient that is cost effective and clean label.
The oats are grown and processed according to Bay State Milling’s Purity Protocol. This is a closed-loop, gluten-free supply chain that also ensures the ingredient has less than 5 parts per million of gluten, which is significantly lower than the 20 ppm threshold set by FDA for the gluten-free claim, she added.
The boost in protein did not compromise SowNaked Oats’ fiber content, so they still meet the level necessary to make a heart health claim, and the resistant starch in oats also support gut health and are fermentable so that they create short-chain fatty acids that complement GLP-1 drugs, she added.
The SowNaked Oats are not the only crop Bay State Milling offers with increased nutrient density. Its HealthSense high-fiber wheat flour also packs 10 times the prebiotic fiber of conventional refined flour because it uses a varietal of non-GMO high-amylose wheat in which the endosperm is very high in resistant starch.
