Chr. Hansen talks female empowerment and dispeling probiotic myths amid its women’s health expansion

19 Jan 2021 --- Women’s health is viewed as one of the fastest-growing categories in the probiotics space and yet remains a widely “overlooked” market. 

However, Chr. Hansen aims to fortify its position in this sector throughout 2021.

NutritionInsight speaks with Daniel Hovel Hansen, head of infant and women’s health at Chr. Hansen’s human health division, about bringing women’s empowerment movements and dwindling societal taboos surrounding intimate health into the wider business strategy.

Ulla Holmboe Gondolf, head of scientific advisors, human health division, also dispels myths and misconceptions about probiotic use for women’s health, highlighting the need for strain specificity.

Shouting about women’s health
For generations, women’s proactive care for their intimate health was seen as something that had to be “hidden away,” with many lacking the knowledge and autonomy to govern their own bodies. 

However, women’s rights and empowerment movements have shifted the focus toward filling those gaps in reproductive and intimate health. 

“The awareness of taking care of your intimate health as a woman is also something that’s just as relevant as taking care of all other areas of health. We don’t see it as something that’s related to COVID-19 actually; the trend was there before,” says Hansen.

Women’s health products are now even leaving the pharmacy, says Hansen. “You can buy them as lifestyle products now. We see many new brands arising that don’t talk about [women’s health] – they shout it out.” 

Ulla Holmboe Gondolf is head of scientific advisors at Chr. Hansen’s human health division.Probiotics are natural
Women’s health used to only concern the urogenital space, or vaginal and urinary tract health. “Now, we’re also moving into more specialized solutions for women’s health, which is what the consumer wants.”

NutritionInsight’s previous industry roundtables revealed how women represent a lucrative consumer market beyond the traditional categories of fertility and menopause.

One major trend in this space has been the shift from artificial or overly pharmaceutical-sounding health solutions to more natural ingredients and shorter, cleaner labels.

When asked to what extent probiotics – Chr. Hansen’s specialty field – fall in the naturality category, Hansen says: “Probiotics and probiotic bacteria are a natural part of our body. They are everywhere. It’s just a question from our side how to refine them to target specific health benefits.”

Myths and misconceptions about probiotic strains
The specific strain and its quantity is important for supporting the microbiota, underscores Gondolf.

“There’s definitely a misconception about the amount of strains and colony-forming units (CFUs) in a product. Some believe that the more CFUs and strains there are in a product, the better.”

Another false belief is that a greater variety of bacteria present in a product also improves its function. “This is definitely not necessarily correct,” adds Gondolf.

She shares the example of the misunderstanding that all Lactobacillus rhamnosus strains are similar. The Chr. Hansen portfolio has two different L. rhamnosus strains: the LGG strain and the GR-1 strain.

“Both strains were tested to see if there was an effect on women’s health. For the LGG strain, which is the most documented probiotic strain in the world, we did not see any effect within women’s health,” Gondolf explains.

In contrast, GR-1 exhibited an effect, revealing that probiotics yield health benefits specific to the strain, not just the genus or the species.

Daniel Hovel Hansen heads the infant and women’s health department at the company’s human health division.Educate the consumer
Elucidating strain specificity is just one example of how consumers need to be better educated. Better education leads to more interest in probiotic products, growing the women’s health category further.

“One of our big tasks is to educate the consumer to find the right probiotic product because we know there are so many products out there,” Gondolf maintains.

That task begins not with social media campaigns, but with science, says Hansen. Educating healthcare professionals and key industry opinion leaders trickles down to the end-consumer.

“We are a scientifically-driven company. If we can prove an effect of our probiotics within specific areas, then we have a very good story to tell.”

The start of a journey
Chr. Hansen’s venture into expanding its footprint in women’s health was accelerated by the acquisition of Austrian B2B probiotics company HSO Health Care last year, followed by US-based UAS Laboratories.

“With those combined, we can go beyond targeting only the urogenital health area, targeting more specifically pregnancy, healthy female aging and also immune- and digestion-targeted products for women,” concludes Hansen.

By Anni Schleicher