Clinical nutrition: FrieslandCampina Ingredients launches prototypes to tackle sarcopenia and malnutrition

11 Oct 2018 --- FrieslandCampina Ingredients has launched a range of five medical nutrition prototypes to address nutritional insufficiencies that arise from a disease, condition or aging. Presented at the Fi Asia in Jakarta last week, the range includes nutritionally-complete tube feed and drip feed solutions and well as three powder formats. As people live longer, the prevalence of disease is on the rise. As such, industry is seeing a growing demand for nutritional solutions that can support patients and help healthcare providers tackle the increasing range of health challenges.

One of the significant hurdles medical nutrition needs to address is that of malnutrition among patients as well as the aging. Research by Advocate Health Care and Abbott, published in July 2018, has shown that one in three patients are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition when they are admitted to hospital and many are unaware of it. Disease-related malnutrition is prevalent due to reduced food intake and disturbed metabolism.

Another consequence of suboptimal diet is the development of sarcopenia, with FrieslandCampina noting that more than 200 million people are expected to suffer from sarcopenia by 2050. Both malnutrition and sarcopenia can result in adverse health outcomes, and a loss of mobility and independence.

Nutrition plays a vital role in disease management and age-related conditions as muscle mass, strength and function can all be maintained by improving the nutritional status of malnourished and frail patients by supplementing their diet with high-quality proteins and essential amino acids.

Each prototype is designed to enable brand owners to fast-track their own propositions to target sarcopenia and disease-related malnutrition, Floor van der Horst, Marketing Director Medical Nutrition at FrieslandCampina, tells NutritionInsight.

The tube feed prototype contains 4g protein per 100ml and 1.0 kcal per ml, while the drip feed prototype contains 6g protein per 100ml and 1.5 kcal per ml. 

“Maintaining healthy muscle, functional capacity and mobility are cornerstones for frail older adults to actively participate in society. Therefore we are intrinsically motivated to design specifically medical nutrition prototypes that can help these older adults to prevent the loss of muscle – also called sarcopenia – and thus help to stay mobile and active,” says Sjors Verlaan, Development Director at FrieslandCampina Medical Nutrition.

An extensive article in the September edition of The World of Food Ingredients discusses the most prevalent trends currently influencing NPD in the medical nutrition category: compacting, approximating normal food items and targeted solutions.

“Patients often have trouble consuming enough energy and proteins in a normal diet,” says van der Horst. “At the same time, patients are reluctant to consume nutritional support products, such as medical nutrition drinks, because of mental barriers regarding serving size and sensory features.”

“Dairy plays an important role in providing high-quality nutrition as a natural, good tasting source of essential nutrients such as proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals,” van der Horst notes.