“An immense, growing global need”: Nestlé Health Science enters allergy prevention, invests in Before Brands

27 Sep 2019 --- Nestlé Health Science has invested in Before Brands, specialists in early childhood food allergy prevention, to forward initiatives to prevent rising allergy rates. Before Brands is the inventor of the SpoonfulOne line, an advanced childhood nutritional product able to reduce food allergy development risk with 16 key allergens. Before Brands can now leverage Nestlé Health Science’s expertise and financial resources. This will allow it to pursue education activities, broaden the product offering, accelerate commercialization efforts, and to continue building proprietary long-term data around usage and product benefits.

The move marks a first for Nestlé Health Science, who has products for infants with allergies – Althéra, Alfaré and Alfamino – but has previously not engaged with allergy prevention. 

“Reducing the risk of development of childhood food allergies is an entirely new category, so it is difficult to project the eventual size of the market. That being said, the global need is clearly immense and growing; prevention strategies require population-level engagement; and practical, accessible solutions will be critical if families are to successfully implement proactive and inclusive feeding recommendations,” Jacquelyn Campo, Senior Director Global Communications, Nestlé Health Science, tells NutritionInsight. The global prevalence of food allergies is on the rise, possibly due to environmental and lifestyle factors.

The investment follows the research center’s foray into Crohn’s disease. In July, the results of a “breakthrough” study in the diet-based treatment of Crohn’s disease lent support to Nestlé Health Science’s new mobile app for patients, ModuLife, which is incorporating this knowledge in its therapeutic practice. 

As allergy rates among children increase, Nestlé Health Science CEO Greg Behar notes that studies have shown that consistently exposing children at a very early age to a potential food allergen can reduce allergy development by up to 80 percent. “It would be very difficult for parents to achieve this kind of consistent immune-system training to 16 different allergens on their own; SpoonfulOneT is a convenient and natural solution that fits with the Nestlé Health Science mission of healthier lives through nutrition,” he says.

The core technology of SpoonfulOne is based on research and intellectual property licensed from Stanford University, and it aims to train the child’s immune system through consistent feeding over months to years. 

“Every SpoonfulOne product contains small amounts of 16 foods from the food groups that are associated with more than 90 percent of food allergies globally. In addition, SpoonfulOne products are made in child-friendly formats that make ‘early and often’ feedings possible, so parents help their children grow up accustomed to a diverse range of the world’s most commonly allergenic foods,” Campo explains.

Rising allergy rates
According to data shared by Nestlé Health Science, the global prevalence of food allergies is on the rise due to environmental and lifestyle factors. In the US, 8 percent of children develop a food allergy by the time they reach adulthood. And in fact, the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in the reports that food allergies in children have increased by 50 percent between 1997 and 2011. 

Regarding peanut allergies, research presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting suggests that rates in children have increased 21 percent since 2010, and that nearly 2.5 percent of US children may have an allergy to peanuts.

Meanwhile, recent research also highlighted how these increasing allergy rates could be linked in lifestyle aspects such as diet, and in particular, junk food. The study found that children with food allergies have higher subcutaneous levels of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) than children with respiratory allergies, or those with no allergies at all.  Every SpoonfulOne product contains amounts of 16 foods from the food groups associated with more than 90 percent of food allergies globally. 

The principal investigator of the study, Roberto Berni Canani, Chief of the Allergy Program at the Department of Translational Medical Science, noted that children’s eating habits are an important target of intervention for food allergy prevention. “Today we have scientific evidence on the detrimental role of these compounds in the pathogenesis of many chronic diseases. More efforts should be made by health authorities in limiting the exposure to a high level of dietary AGEs, especially in the pediatric age.” 

Allergy rate increases are also mirrored in global data. Childhood food allergy rates similar to those seen in the US have been reported from Australia, the UK and Northern Europe, and rates of food allergy in China are rising. 

“The opportunity to get ahead of these risk factors by empowering the parents of the new generation of healthy babies is therefore profound and Before Brands’ approach of prevention through nutrition is perfectly aligned with our mission,” says Campo.

Is the industry taking note?
The food and nutrition industries have gradually become more aware of the role allergies play in people’s live and the importance of early life nutrition in this space. In March, Danone opened a new 240 million (US$271 million) Nutricia Cuijk production facility in the Netherland to produce highly-specialized infant formula for health conditions such as allergies or digestive issues.

This is reflected in NPD, with Innova Market Insights data showing how free-from foods have gone far beyond the niche in recent years. The market researcher reports a 16 percent CAGR in food and beverage launches with a free-from claim in recent years (Global, 2013-2017). These products accounted for 24 percent of food and beverage launches reported in 2017. 

Indeed, the wider “free-from” market has been predicted to be worth US$899 million by 2021. 

Nestlé Health Sciences entrance into this space further underlines the pressing nature of the platform.

By Laxmi Haigh