The perpetual journey toward replicating breast milk: Formula players highlight key ingredients in infant nutrition

18 Dec 2019 --- The infant nutrition sector is rife with innovation, as industry continues to keep pace with new scientific findings. However, human milk continues to be the gold standard, with the gap between it and formula still sizeable. Nonetheless, a focus on key ingredients such as Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs), fats and proteins is a crucial point for differentiation in a crowded market. NutritionInsight speaks with companies active in this space to find out how the infant nutrition arena is shifting in response to wider trends in the food and beverage industry, as well as specific themes within this space.

“Parents are spending more on their babies than in previous years, owing to several social factors, one of which is the significant rise in the number of young working mothers. This has been a key driver for growth in the infant food nutrition market, as working mothers are often dependent on processed infant nutrition products,” says Manel Romeu Bellés, Industry Marketing Manager at Arla Foods Ingredients (AFI). 

He continues that factors such as the growth of the middle class, rapid urbanization, and rising rates of female participation in the labor force in many developing markets have encouraged the adoption of convenience-oriented lifestyles. This has led to an increased desire for prepared baby foods and baby formula.

However, human milk remains the most desirable option when possible. “There is absolutely no question that human milk is the gold standard for infant nutrition. The benefits of human milk are well established and should be the first approach to infant nutrition. Infant formula companies are always working to get formula closer to human milk,” explains Ratna Mukherjea, Technical Fellow and Technology & Innovation Leader in HMOs at DuPont.

“When trying to achieve the optimal nutrition for infants, the natural starting point is human milk,” agrees Bellés. He notes that popular health positionings for new infant formula product launches have been in digestive health, brain health, allergies and immune health. 

Human milk remains the most desirable option when possible.Safety and premiumization are two further attributes that are growing in importance for infant formula shoppers, especially in China, according to Bellés. This is a result of safety concerns from parents, as well as rising incomes and the growth of the middle class. He also points to the influence of larger trends in the mainstream food and beverage industry, such as being organic, pollution-free, additive-free and convenient. 

Spotlight on key ingredients
There is a desire from consumers to have all-in-one products that support multiple aspects of human health, Mukherjea highlights. Parents of young children want to be positive that they are giving their child the best nutrition possible when human milk is not available. One important element of this is the inclusion of HMOs, which are bioactives that help establish the early microbiome and impact immune health.

“While DuPont has commercialized Care4U 2’FL HMO in infant formula, we also have other HMOs in our pipeline, including fucosylated and sialylated varieties. With over 130 HMOs in human milk, a stepwise innovation strategy involves making the most abundant HMOs accessible first. We also have a large portfolio of clinically substantiated probiotics that could provide complementary benefits when combined with HMOs,” says Mukherjea.

The company, which has just entered a groundbreaking merger with IFF, is also investigating developing strains that utilize different HMOs. By harnessing this information, manufacturers of infant formula and children’s nutritional products will soon be able to create better products to support total wellness and help bring infant formula closer to human milk more than ever before, according to Mukherjea. She notes that a desire for differentiation in the marketplace is the main driver for products with multiple HMOs combined with probiotics. 

Meanwhile, AFI has been expanding its portfolio of whey protein hydrolysates portfolio, including partially hydrolyzed ingredients for allergy management and comfort formulas. This year, the company also launched a premium quality lactose for hypoallergenic formulas. Bellés also highlights that fat is one of the main compositional gaps between breast milk and infant formula. 

“Since the middle of the 20th century, milk fat has progressively been replaced by vegetable oils, yet ideally, both fat sources should be present. As a consequence, standard infant formulas now have either low concentrations of, or completely lack, the biologically important building blocks present in dairy fat. These are mainly found in milk fat globule membrane (MFGM), which consists of phospholipids and glycoproteins. Mounting evidence suggests that the bioactive components of MFGM may benefit the growing infant in developing the brain and maturing the gut and immune system,” he says. 

Another example of the gap between infant formula and breast milk is osteopontin, which is present in high amounts in human milk. As a consequence, infant formulas have a significantly lower content of osteopontin than human breast milk. Bellés points to preliminary research suggesting that osteopontin plays a part in the development of infant immune functions, promoting maturation of the immune system and protecting against pathogenic infections.

Narrowing the gap aheadFuture infant formulas will likely have a more similar protein composition and content to human milk.
The future will continue to be a never-ending journey toward closing the compositional and functional gap between infant formulas and breast milk, says Bellés. “Although that gap will never close, we expect it to get smaller as a result of manufacturers continuously improving their products.”

Mukherjea agrees that infant nutrition will continue to evolve to provide the best alternative when breastfeeding is not possible. “Various ingredients are being identified through human milk composition, developed outside of the human milk matrix and commercialized to bring infant formula closer to human milk. Different HMOs will continue to get commercialized over the next few years with regulatory approvals and clinical research demonstrating their benefits,” she adds. 

Meanwhile, Bellés predicts that future infant formulas will also have a more similar protein composition and content to human milk. AFI is a major producer of alpha-lactalbumin, which is rich in essential amino acids and is the most abundant protein in human milk, comprising around 25 percent of total protein content. 

He also anticipates a stronger focus on both maternal nutrition and toddler nutrition. “Studies show that a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy and lactation induce long-term positive health outcomes, including brain development. Furthermore, adequate nutritional intake in the sensitive period of toddler development is a key determinant of health, both in the short- and long-term,” Bellés concludes. 

By Katherine Durrell