Dietary fiber composition
View Patent ↗The present invention provides a chewable composition containing granules of water-soluble dietary fiber. The chewable composition has highly agreeable organoleptic properties and is consumable without the need of an ingestion aid.
1. A chewable fiber composition comprising compressed granules, wherein said granules comprise a water-soluble dietary fiber and said fiber comprises guar gum having an average molecular weight between 15,000 and 35,000, and said granules have a size distribution of less than 10% by weight of granules having particle size larger than about 850 μm and less than 35% by weight of granules having particle size smaller than about 75 μm.
2. The chewable fiber composition of claim 1 , wherein said granules have a size distribution of less than 4% by weight of granules having particle size larger than about 850 μm and less than 20% by weight of granules having particle size smaller than about 75 μm.
3. The chewable fiber composition of claim 1 , wherein said water-soluble dietary fiber comprises partially hydrolyzed guar gum having an average molecular weight between 20,000 and 30,000.
4. A chewable fiber composition comprising compression molded agglomerated granules, wherein said agglomerated granules comprise water-soluble guar gum fiber having an average molecular weight between 15,000 and 35,000.
5. The chewable fiber composition of claim 4 , wherein said water-soluble guar gum fiber has an average molecular weight between 20,000 and 30,000.
6. The chewable fiber composition of claim 4 , wherein said composition further comprises maltodextrin and sorbitol.
7. A chewable fiber composition comprising agglomerated granules, said granules comprising a water-soluble fiber and at least 50 wt % of said water-soluble fiber is partially hydrolyzed guar gum having an average molecular weight between 15,000 and 35,000.
8. The chewable fiber composition of claim 7 , wherein said composition further comprises maltodextrin and sorbitol.
9. A chewable tablet comprising agglomerated granules, wherein said granules comprise a water-soluble guar gum fiber having an average molecular weight between 15,000 and 35,000, said tablet having a hardness between 10 kp and 20 kp.
10. A process for producing a chewable fiber composition comprising guar gum, comprising the steps of:
a) blending fiber ingredients comprising water-soluble guar gum fiber having an average molecular weight between 15,000 and 35,000 to produce a fiber mixture;
b) granulating said fiber mixture by spraying a liquid granulating agent to form wet granules having a moisture content between 8 wt % and 17 wt %, based on the total weight of said granule;
c) drying said wet granules to from dry granules;
d) screening said dry granules using a screen having a mesh size between about 500 μm and about 710 μm to separate small granules and large granules;
e) milling said large granules to form milled granules;
f) mixing said small granules and said milled granules to form mixed granules; and
g) compression molding said mixed granules to from said chewable fiber composition, wherein said chewable fiber composition has a hardness between 10 kp and 20 kp.
11. A chewable tablet according to claim 9 additionally comprising maltodextrin and sorbitol.
12. A chewable tablet according to claim 7 wherein said water-soluble fiber consists essentially of agglomerated granules consist essentially of partially hydrolyzed guar gum having an average molecular weight between 15,000 and 35,000.