What does Monash Certification mean?
Have you noticed the little blue logo on the front of Superflora shake packets? This indicates that all four Superflora shakes have been certified as low FODMAP by Monash University. Yay!
But what does certification really mean?
If you want the quick version, scroll down to Alana Scott’s video below. But if you want to understand the science, read on!
The wording on the back of our packs explains that Monash University have assessed our shakes and found that for each product, one serve is low in FODMAPs and so can assist with following the Monash University Low FODMAP Diet.
The low-FODMAP diet is a great way to improve the symptoms of IBS, diverticulitis and also IBS-type symptoms associated with endometriosis, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. It works to relieve gut health symptoms in around 70% of people with IBS.
It has three stages, and involves cutting down on foods containing symptom triggering FODMAPs, and then gradually testing and re-introducing those that you can tolerate to make your diet as diverse as possible.
Just in case you need a reminder - FODMAPs are fermentable short chain carbohydrates from the Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols groups. They are present in varying amounts in foods as wide ranging as dairy, bread, legumes, fruit and vegetables.
They cause problems once they leave the stomach and move through the rest of your gut. This is either as a result of drawing excess water into the small intestine and/or through subsequent fermentation once they reach the large intestine. These processes produce painful bloating, gas, diarrhoea and/or constipation. The idea behind the diet is that if you can lower the amount of problematic FODMAPs in your diet, you can avoid a lot of these gut symptoms.
You can enjoy Superflora shakes at any stage of the low FODMAP diet. Our shakes make a convenient low FODMAP meal on their own. You can also add a low FODMAP serving of fruit or peanut butter and lactose-free milk to make something more substantial. They are a quick and easy option, and the little blue logo means that you can enjoy them confidently knowing that they won’t contribute to gut symptoms.
What goes on behind the scenes?
So what exactly goes on behind the scenes at Monash University when they certify a product. It differs a little depending on the food, but the first step is to take representative samples of the food.
For a packaged dry product from a single brand like ours, that means us providing samples from three different batches of each product. If it is a generic product then three different brands will be sampled: a popular brand; a low-price, home brand and one other. If it’s a fruit or vegetable, the team will purchase one of the item from five different supermarkets and five different grocers.
Standard processing
The goods are then processed ready for testing. This differs slightly for the different food types. If it is a fruit or vegetable, the edible portion of each of the 10 pieces is gathered and processed in a food processor to make a homogenous sample. This is then freeze dried to remove all the water. If it is a grain or cereal, a 500g amount of each of the three samples is prepared as per the package instructions and then half of each is taken and together they are processed to a homogenous mix and again freeze dried to remove the water. If the product is a liquid or a powder then no freeze drying is required.
Next a 1g sample is taken and mixed with a little water at 80 degrees centigrade for 15 mins. Additional water is then added so that the food is diluted to a standard dilution of 1g in 100ml of water, then it is frozen before the FODMAP content testing is undertaken.
Three different tests are undertaken to measure FODMAP content. These are two slightly different forms of gas chromatography (HPLC and UPLC) and an additional enzyme assay to asses fructan content.
Gas chromatography allows separation and detection of the varying amounts of different sized molecules in a mixture. The output graphs can be compared to those for standard chemicals to allow identification of component chemicals. At the Monash labs, HPLC gas chromatography and UPLC gas chromatography allow the scientists to measure the amount of fructose (a monosaccharide that is problem when found at high levels than glucose), glucose (and hence the amount of excess fructose = fructose - glucose), sucrose (a problematic disaccharide), sugar polyols, lactose (another disaccharide) and GOS (oligosaccharides) in the tested foods.
The fructan assay, as the name suggests, provides specific information about the amount of fructans, including short chain fructo-oligosaccharides which are a problematic oligosaccharide in the FODMAP family.
The Monash team used their knowledge of the amounts of FODMAP-rich foods that typically lead to gut symptoms in IBS patients to work out cut off points for tolerable amounts of FODMAPs in a single serving of a food. They determined that this was around 0.5g of total FODMAPs. They also worked out the cut-off points for individual FODMAP groups.
A food like Superflora will be assessed to see if total FODMAPs and individual FODMAP group in a single serving size are less than these cut-offs or not. All four of our products have less than the problematic amounts, and hence you can consume the recommended serving size (50g) confident that they will not trigger FODMAP related IBS symptoms.
You will notice though that low FODMAP does not mean NO FODMAPs. This explains why some products certified as low-FODMAP may contain small amounts of ingredients that themselves are moderately high in FODMAPs, but still meet the criteria for certification. If the product has been tested and assessed as low FODMAP by Monash University you can rest assured that it is ‘safe’ to consume one serving of that product, even if there is a high FODMAP ingredient in the ingredient list.
Monash University do not assess any other health claims on the food or test for other gut irritants. However, we have been careful not to include common gut irritants/allegens in our products such as nuts or caffeine. We have also been careful not include any gluten-containing ingredients and we test samples of our products every six months for gluten at a NATA accredited lab.
We have included psyllium and PHGG which are two types of fibre that are known to regulate bowel movements and help people with both diarrhoea predominant and constipation predominant IBS. We’ve also added a probiotic, Lactospore for which there is plenty of clinical data to show it benefits people with IBS. The Superflora range is specially formulated for people with sensitive tummies, but is beneficial for every body. Enjoy!
The short version
Written by: Dr Mary Webberley, Chief Scientific Officer at Noisy Guts. Mary has a background in biology, with two degrees from the University of Cambridge and post-doctoral research experience. She spent several years undertaking research into the diagnosis of IBS and IBD. She was the winner of the 2018 CSIRO Breakout Female Scientist Award.
Video by: Alana Scott. Alana is the founder of A Little Bit Yummy, a website that specializes in low FODMAP recipes and resources.