“Health through food”: Danone urges patient-centric medical nutrition as an integral part of healthcare

There is a growing awareness of medical nutrition in healthcare. Still, nutrition is not yet fully integrated into medical education, points out Katrien van Laere, Danone’s chief scientific and medical officer. Medical nutrition supports patients in meeting their nutritional needs and helps manage malnutrition caused by diseases and chronic conditions. 

Nutrition Insight continues its conversation with Van Laere on the importance of nutritional care in treating patients.

Earlier this month, she highlighted the causes, impacts and solutions to disease-related malnutrition, an often overlooked condition that affects 30–50% of hospitalized patients in Europe. This poses significant risks to vulnerable groups and weakens their ability to fight infections.

“Let’s not underestimate the role of medical nutrition — you need to feed your body to be ready for any challenge and manage a disease. It’s also crucial with the aging population because we all get older and want to have more fit years.”

She notes that measuring nutrition and its positive impact on health is challenging, where awareness of medical nutrition may have suffered. At the same time, technological advances, new guidelines and evidence are bringing increased attention to nutrition in health care.

“For example, the European Society for Medical Oncology recently released guidelines, saying that medical nutrition and nutrition advice needs to be an integrated part of the therapy.”

Making the invisible visible

The growing use of remote patient monitoring and technological advances is helping to “make the invisible visible,” says Van Laere. These developments help build an understanding of nutrition’s potential impact and, in turn, help show the potential of medical nutrition.

“For example, glucose monitors are becoming more available where people, even if they are not diabetes patients, can see how their food affects their glucose levels. The same is true for inflammation markers.”

She expects these advances to increasingly help ensure nutrition “becomes a part of patient care” to improve medical outcomes and further drive preventative health.

Katrien van Laere, Danone’s chief scientific and medical officer (Image credit: Danone).Seizing the potential of digital health, Danone recently partnered with Resilience, a remote patient care solution, to develop a nutrition and oncology module to tackle cancer-related malnutrition. This module is integrated into Resilience’s digital healthcare platform.

Scientific evidence also helps to build awareness of the role of clinical nutrition. Van Laere points to Danone’s clinical studies that demonstrate the benefit of medical nutrition. “That’s fundamental because it results in guidelines, which go into implementation in hospital protocols. But that all takes time.”

Tailored delivery formats

Van Laere highlights that Danone aims to provide “health through food to as many people as possible.” In developing new products, the company aims to ensure that patients get sufficient energy and nutrients from nutrition in the formats that fit their needs.

For example, cancer patients treated with chemotherapy or radiation commonly experience mucositis, a side effect of these treatments. This is an inflammation of the mucous membranes that line the mouth and gastrointestinal tract, making it painful to consume food.

“Together with oncology patients, we have developed products which have a cooling effect in the mouth to address taste alterations they might experience,” illustrates Van Laere.

Additionally, as more research is being done into gut health, she says the company is expanding its focus on products for “health through the gut.”

“For example, if you’re on chemotherapy and your intestine is destroyed, or if you have leaky gut syndrome, having the right nutrition to rebuild the gut and restore the mucus to ensure the right absorption is crucial.”

Danone’s portfolio is adapted to patient needs, e.g. calories per ml, dosage size and fiber content, with options for specific health issues.In addition to health needs, medical nutrition products must also consider functional needs, such as product thickness for patients with trouble swallowing, smaller dosages or specific taste preferences. Moreover, she highlights the demand for more sustainable products.

“It’s always health first — you take our products because of a health need. However, we are determining if we can offer more sustainable solutions as part of our company strategy.”

Patient-centric offering

Van Laere explains that Danone’s medical nutrition portfolio of foods for specific medical purposes, such as tube feeds, is developed based on patient needs. These products are specialized and tailored to meet their specific needs.

For example, they range in calories per ml, dosage size, fiber content, protein levels and hydrolysates and also include peptide formulas or options for a specific health focus.

“We have products for oncology patients, for frail patients, such as elderly people and geriatric wards, and for people with diabetes or specific wounds,” she details.

“We also have a pediatric portfolio. For example, we have medical nutrition for metabolic disorders, an amino acid base peptide formula for kids with allergies and products for children with disease-related malnutrition.”

ESPEN guidelines set a nutritional frame for specific conditions and health needs.Patients who have been in bed for a long time may also develop bed or pressure sores, which are difficult to treat. Danone has also created a formula to help in these situations. She highlights that specific proteins have specific amino acids that help heal wounds, which has been proven in clinical studies.

“We work with healthcare professionals — they treat and understand patients’ needs,” she adds. “Depending on those needs, we develop specific formulas.”

Clinical nutrition guidelines

ESPEN promotes research and education in clinical nutrition and metabolism and organizes consensus statements on clinical care and quality control to ensure the diffusion and application of knowledge.

The organization provides a range of guidelines on nutrition care and support, such as nutrition and hydration in dementia or clinical nutrition in inflammatory bowel disease. Recently, its guidelines on vitamin D intake have been increased.

“ESPEN guidelines guide what patients need; they set the nutritional frame,” explains Van Laere. “This helps the medical profession in hospitals and nursing homes, and it helps us develop the right products.”

“Essentially, the doctors conduct research and say what patients need, while our job is to ensure we have that in the product. If there is an ESPEN guideline, we need to make sure we address it in our products. Similarly for the European Society for Medical Oncology guidelines for oncology patients.”