Unlocking new HMO benefits: BASF’s 2’-FL blend helps protect against obesity

01 May 2020 --- Supplementation with BASF Human Nutrition’s newly launched brand of 2’-FL, called Prebilac, can lead to compositional changes in the gut microbiota associated with reduced body weight. This is according to a new study supported by the Germany-based company, which found that the human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) blend can shift gut microbiota dysbiosis toward a more positive state, presenting an attractive potential avenue for obesity treatment. Meanwhile, BASF Group’s Q1 results reveal growth in its Nutrition & Care segment, although overall business goals for 2020 are no longer deemed feasible to achieve.

“These study findings support the use of 2’-FL for modulating the hyperphagic response to high-fat diets and improving the microbiota-gut-brain axis. These compositional changes may have prevented lipopolysaccharides translocation and subsequent gut inflammation. Consequently, it protects against gut-brain axis dysfunction and progression into increased body weight, increases in adiposity and hyperphagia,” the study reads.

Conducted at the University California Davis and published in the journal Nutrients, this study aimed to determine the beneficial effects of 2’-FL supplementation on the gut-brain axis and the diet-induced obesity phenotype in high fat-fed mice. If found that only 10 percent (w/v) 2’-FL, but not 1, 2 or 5 percent, decreased fat mass and body weight gain. 

Research on HMOs is moving out of the infant nutrition sector and more toward gut health and weight management.The research team divided 36 mice into six groups. Two of the groups were fed a low-fat diet or a high-fat diet. The other groups received a high-fat diet supplemented with Prebilac at 1, 2, 5 or 10 percent (w/v) in drinking water for six weeks. Compared to the low-fat diet group, the mice in the high-fat group began significantly increasing their body weight after three weeks. Mice fed a high-fat diet supplemented with 10 percent 2’-FL gained substantially less weight than mice fed a high-fat diet alone.

Supplementation with 10 percent Prebilac was also associated with significant changes in the gut microbiota. “A supplementation of 10 percent 2’-FL led to a unique profile of the gut microbiota characterized by a differential abundance of Parabacteroides genus, which has been shown to have anti-obesity effects. [It] also differentially increased the levels of cecal metabolites, pyruvate and lactate, which have previously been shown to decrease food intake,” the researchers affirm in the study.

HMOs: A billion dollar industry?
Dr. Stefan Rüdenauer, Global Director of Human Nutrition Research and Development at BASF, previously spoke with NutritionInsight on how HMO research is moving outside of the infant nutrition space. “Unlike other generally known prebiotics, HMOs have been specifically ‘designed’ for human consumption. We see a significant opportunity in identifying tailor-made, specific prebiotics that can have a predictable effect on shaping the microbiota and thus convey health benefits,” he affirms.

As such, health and nutrition companies are now focusing their attention on adults as another potentially promising group of consumers. “Some estimates see a possible annual market valued at as much as US$1 billion. 2’-FL – the most abundant HMO – is the perfect ingredient for supporting the development of a healthy digestive and immune system, during early life and beyond,” Lay Kwan Goh, Head of Global Marketing, BASF Human Nutrition also shared with NutritionInsight.

Strong Q1 sales due to diverse portfolio
This study comes as BASF publishes its Q1 financial results. In its Nutrition & Care segment, EBIT before special items increased compared with the prior-year quarter by 14 percent to €254 million (US$279 million). This was primarily due to significantly higher earnings in the Nutrition & Health division, notes BASF. 

“This division supplies customer industries, which in some cases have increased demand during the crisis. We were able to meet this demand thanks to higher product availability in comparison to the same quarter of the previous year,” says Dr. Hans-Ulrich Engel, BASF’s Chief Financial Officer. 

Despite these promising results, BASF affirms that it will not be able to meet its overall group sales and earnings forecast for the 2020 business year. “The company is therefore withdrawing its outlook for 2020. It is currently impossible to reliably estimate both the length and the further spread of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as future measures to contain it. Consequently, concrete statements on the future development of sales and earnings cannot be made at present,” the company maintains in its financial release.

“Q1 of 2020 was not a normal quarter. The same will be true for the second quarter and likely for the entire year,” says Dr. Martin Brudermüller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, at the presentation of the results for the first quarter of 2020. “The coronavirus has turned the world upside down,” he concludes.

Edited by Anni Schleicher