Seas get breath of new life - Singapore Polytechnic

“PEOPLE LOVECHOCOLATES,SO WHY NOTENHANCE ITSNUTRITIONALVALUE, ANDMAKE ITBENEFICIALFOR HEALTH?”– Mr TanEveryone Loves ChocolateIt’s the ultimate comfort food and the quintessential sinfultreat. Yet traditionally, chocolate is considered the Big BadWolf of foods. It’s high in calories, and loaded with sugar andsaturated fats.Now an innovation has turned all common knowledge aboutchocolate on its head. We are talking chocolate pralines that,believe it or not, are good for digestion.It was exactly the mass appeal of the dark, milky sweets thatCharissa Low, Elvin Wee and Ang Kwok Chye, a trio offinal-year students from Singapore Polytechnic’s School ofChemical and Life Sciences, wanted to harness, together withtheir project supervisor, senior lecturer Tan Soon Ann.“People love chocolate, so why not enhance its nutritionalvalue, and make it beneficial for health?” explained Tansimply. “Studies have found that dark chocolate containslots of antioxidants, and helps to reduce bad cholesterol.”Add inulin—the team’s special ingredient—to thoseinherent qualities, and what you get is a treat that notonly tastes good, but also does a whole lot of good foryour body.It’s a particularly attractive solution in our fast foodculture, where a majority of the people don’t get theirdaily recommended portion of dietary fibre. Somescientific studies suggest that the prebiotic lowers theproduction of toxins and carcinogens in the intestines, andmay help stave off colon cancer. Studies have suggested alink between bad bacteria and the disease.On top of that, inulin has an unexpected benefit for dietersand chocolate-lovers, what Tan calls its “self-limiting effect”.“Inulin makes you feel full, especially if combined with vegetableand fruit fibre.”In fact, each inulin-infused praline contains about thesame amount of inulin as a banana. So chances are youwon’t wipe out a box at a time as people normally feel fullafter eating just five or six—enough to keep good bacteriagoing for a week or so.And six out of the nine pralines in a box are darkchocolate, which is a healthier alternative to milkchocolate. “We found in a survey that about 75 per centof Singaporeans prefer milk chocolate, so we had toinclude some,” laughed Tan. “But the consolation is thatour pralines have fewer calories than normal chocolates,as the inulin replaces some of the fat.”INULIN? WHAT’S THAT?Most people have never heard of inulin—a dietary fibre thatoccurs naturally in garlic, asparagus and bananas—let alone ofits health benefits.Inulin helps fight bowel problems like diarrhoea by promotingthe growth of good bacteria, while suppressing the growth of badbacteria. Good bacteria in your large intestine, like lactobacillus andbifido bacteria, feed on the inulin, breaking it down into short-chainfatty acids, which in turn suppress the growth of bad bacteria.R IOT 43