How does an instant coffee that will lose you ten pounds of weight in three months sound?
Wishful thinking perhaps.
WATCH: Massive opportunities for OptiBiotix Health's new and improved SlimBiome
Not according to the team at microbiome specialist Optibiotix PLC (LON:OPTI), who have just such a product going through the trial process.
Indeed, instant coffee is one of a whole range of products being developed to incorporate Slimbiome, a microbiome-based additive invented by Optibiotix that basically stops you feeling hungry.
And the results have been staggering, says nutritionist Max Tomlinson, founder of the Healthy Weight Loss Company, the business behind the GoFigure brand.
He admits a degree of scepticism over the claims for Slimbiome when Optibiotix first bought into his company in 2016 (it recently upped its stake to 64%), but not now.
“If you genuinely are a considerate dieter, you will not feel hungry,” he says.
“It [Slimbiome] is a combination of great oils, proteins, carbohydrate.
“It’s a great food but you can’t have more than sachet.”
And that is the point.
READ: OptiBiotix licenses weight-loss technology to Premier Foods offshoot
No one knew five years ago what the microbiome was and how important it was, adds Tomlinson, but Slimbiome is a fantastic compound that slows food transit down and stabilises blood sugars.
It is fat that Slimbiome reduces, not just weight, he says.
Shakes, mueslis, bakery products, cereals and nutrition bars are all products that soon will contain a Slimbiome element, but that might be just the start, according to sales and marketing director Christina Wood.
Partnerships have already been established with a number of companies around the world with Premier Foods subsidiary Knighton’s in the UK the latest.
Industry starting to take notice
Knighton’s is also working with Optibiotix to develop Slimbiome further.
The two have just launched a revised version of the product that enhances its use, flavour and mouth feel to position it for the opportunities opening up in bakeries, snacking and the growing ‘shakes’ market.
GoFigure products already are stamped ‘contains Slimbiome’, but Wood wants the brand to become generic in the healthy dieting business.
“A functional ingredient that can be incorporated into a lot of mainstream products to help people maintain a healthy lifestyle,” is how she describes it.
Industry insiders have also started to take notice.
Slimbiome has been short-listed for best functional ingredient for health and wellbeing at the upcoming Food Matters Live gathering.
But if it works as well as Tomlinson and Wood say, it is likely this will just be the one of many such nominations.