The move comes as the company launched a new fibre-boosted oat milk range across the UK and Europe. The new products, Fibre Barista Edition and Fibre Low-Cal Edition, have been designed to help consumers increase their daily fibre intake.
This is part of a move by the company to broaden its beverage range to meet consumer demands and health needs.
The follows news from Oatly that recently revealed it was is accelerating its transformation into a ‘full on’ beverage company. It said it has expanded its portfolio of flavours and formats driving differentiation in a beverages market undergoing “significant change.”
According to Kate Overy, Registered Nutritionist and Nutrition Science & Communications Lead at Oatly, the company will continue to explore ways to maximise the nutritional benefits of oats while expanding its product offering.
“We are thinking about more ways to engage with oat drinks and, give consumers choice wherever dairy is available as well,” she said.
She admits this remains a challenge in the beverage category.
“There is this gap between what customers are asking for, which is to be healthier with more fibre and better nutrition. In reality things like convenience, taste, cost, time pressures and our everyday habits come between what we want to do and what we actually do,” she said.
Overy said that as a drinks brand, it’s really important to offer consumers choice because of their differing needs.
She highlighted the flavoured drinks market as an emerging trend and something that Oatly will continue to innovate in with new flavours with health benefits.
However, this latest launch aims to bridge a gap in consumer nutritional needs by helping them to incorporate more fibre into everyday diets.
Each 250ml serving delivers 5g of fibre and is also low in sugars and saturated fat, while also providing a source of calcium, iodine, vitamins B2 and D. Although Oatly’s existing oat drinks already contain fibre, the new range delivers more than double the amount found in many of its current products, which provide around 2g per serving.
“There is a big public health need for more fibre, as well as it being shiny in the new trend on social media,” Overy said.
“Getting enough fibre is a really important component of overall dietary quality. There is lots of really compelling research to suggest the kind of long-term and short-term benefits of fibre.”
Overy said trends such as “fibremaxxing” and “fibre layering” have helped raise awareness of fibre consumption.
“From a nutrition perspective, it’s really positive that this is leading to people looking for more fibre as we know that people are not reaching the recommended amount,” she said.
Just 4% of the UK population currently meets fibre recommendations, while the average adult consumes around 14g less fibre per day than the UK Government recommended adequate intake of 30g. Across Europe on average consumers are consuming around 10g less than the recommended intake.
“I think fibre is becoming increasingly important in that conversation and I expect that we’ll continue to see more fibre rich innovations in the market,” she predicted.