Zopresso – leveraging scientifically-proven effects of konjac fibre as ready-to-drink beverages

** 2019年，英格兰64%的成年人超重，28%肥胖，3%病态 **。肥胖的一些主要风险包括2型糖尿病、冠心病、多种癌症、中风和抑郁症。2019/20年度，英格兰有超过100万例住院病例，其中肥胖是一个因素（比2018/19年度增加了17%）。Zopresso项目的目标是开发一系列天然 ** 抑制食欲的饮料产品 **，使人们能够安全和经济有效地减肥和控制体重。该项目特别具有创新性，因为它专注于使用一种经FDA批准和EFSA认可的植物纤维，该纤维已被科学证明对减肥有显着贡献。虽然魔芋纤维已被广泛用于药品、食品和食品添加剂中作为增稠剂，但在英国、欧洲、美国或中东和北非地区，市场上还没有含魔芋纤维的饮料。Ziro团队已成功开发出含魔芋纤维的植物饮料中试样品，并证明这种纤维可以小规模地加入到美味可口的饮料中。我们仍然需要克服加工含魔芋配方的技术挑战，同时保持出色的适口性和风味。作为一个早期创业公司，Zopresso对Ziro的发展计划至关重要。我们15个月的工业研究项目的预算为487，088英镑，我们要求拨款340，962英镑。

**In 2019, 64% of adults in England were overweight, with 28% obese, and 3% morbidly so**. Some of the major risks of obesity include Type 2 Diabetes, coronary heart disease, many types of cancer, stroke and depression. Just over 1 million hospital admissions were recorded in England 2019/20 where obesity was a factor (a 17% increase on 2018/19).The Zopresso project targets the development of a range of naturally **appetite-supressing beverage products** to enable people to lose and control weight safely and cost-effectively. This project is particularly innovative as it focuses on the use of _konjac_, an FDA-approved and EFSA endorsed plant fibre that has been scientifically proven to contribute significantly to weight loss. Although it is already used widely in drugs, foods and food additives as a thickening agent, there are no konjac-containing beverages on the market in the UK, Europe, USA or MENA.The Ziro team have successfully developed pilot samples of konjac-infused plant-based beverages and proved the fibre can be incorporated into flavoursome and palatable drinks at small scale. We have still to overcome technical challenges around processing konjac-containing formulations, whilst retaining excellent palatability and flavour.As an early stage start-up, Zopresso is critical to Ziro's plans for growth. Our 15-month industrial research-based project has a budget of £487,088 and we request a grant of £340,962\.