Healthsense flour, milled from a wheat variety grown in the US using crop-breeding technology licensed to Bay State by Arista Cereal Technologies, looks and cooks like regular white flour, but features 5-10x the fiber.
Unlike whole wheat flour, which contains all the components of the kernel (the germ, the starchy endosperm, and the fibrous bran layer), Healthsense is like regular refined all-purpose flour in that it’s made from the endosperm, with a fine pale texture and no grainy bits that can put some consumers off whole wheat flour.
While it doesn’t contain wheat bran, Healthsense is nevertheless high in fiber as it’s made from a non-GMO, high-amylose variety of wheat with an endosperm very high in resistant starch, a dietary fiber which resists digestion in the small intestine and reaches the large intestine, where it’s fermented, potentially conferring a variety of health benefits.
‘One of the areas of opportunity is in ‘better for you’ mac and cheese’
The flour, which was launched a few years ago, has only started to take off fairly recently, CEO Pete Levangie told FoodNavigator-USA.
“We have spent years building the supply chain for Healthsense and now we are carrying quite a bit of inventory, and we haven’t changed the price [although the price of everything else is going up] so on a relative basis, it is more affordable, so supply assurance and price stability have been really important [in generating trial].
“With that, we’re starting to see some exciting launches in brands such as Enlightened ready-to-bake cookies and sugar-free ice cream cones [which both feature Healthsense high-fiber wheat flour as the #1 ingredient] and noodle brands such as Sun Noodle and restaurant chain Noodles & Co.
