Project

PULP2VALUE - Processing Underutilised Low value sugarbeet Pulp into VALUE added products

Sugar beet pulp accounts for approx. 13 million tonnes in Europe and is a major residual stream for the sugar beet industry, which is currently valorised as low value feed and/or green gas. The objective for this subproject was to investigate the functionality of L-arabinose, a compound extracted from the side stream of sugar production.

Overweight is caused by a discrepancy between energy intake and energy expenditure. It would be of great interest to find ingredients that aid in lowering energy intake and expenditure and thereby improving body composition, increasing satiety and lowering glycaemic response. Carbohydrates are consumed as a big part of the daily diet. A lower energy yield from carbohydrate rich food would be of great interest without decreasing palatability of the diet.

Therefore this project investigates if consumption of foods with added L-arabinose, a compound from the sugar beet pulp, will improve health. Our main objective is to collect empirical data to verify health effects of L-arabinose a compound of sugarbeet pulp on glycaemic control, satiety feelings, and food intake. This compound will be evaluated at Wageningen University in several human intervention studies, measuring various outcomes on health. In this way compounds from sugar beet pulp can be used as high value beneficial food instead of low value animal feed.

PULP2VALUE relates to the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking annual work plan topic BBI VC3.D4 2014: “Functional additives from residues from the agro-food industry”.

This project has received funding from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 669105.

Published papers as a result of this project