Innovating infant formulas with premium ingredients for gut health and immunity

18 Jan 2024 --- Even though the global infant nutrition market is slowing down, industry experts see increased demand for innovative ingredients as parents are highly invested in their children’s growth and development. Companies continue to strive for infant nutrition to meet the golden standard of breast milk, focusing on gut health and immunity while developing options for infants with specialized needs.

Nutrition Insight discusses key innovations in infant nutrition and its ingredients with Valio, Fonterra, dsm-firmenich and Gnosis by Lesaffre. 

Dr. Anu Turpeinen, nutrition research manager at Valio, sees that ingredients with functional benefits are sought in the infant nutrition market, especially those that enhance immune function and support gut well-being. 

“Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), probiotics and protein hydrolysates, which support gut well-being and immune function are appealing components currently,” she details. “Technological development has enabled the synthesis of a rapidly growing number of HMOs with different structures and properties, and currently, the most abundant HMOs in breast milk are commercially available.” 

Angela Rowan, head of innovation, advanced nutrition and specialty ingredients at Fonterra, adds that parents are always looking for the latest ingredients and research globally. “Their concerns are fairly consistent — growth and height, digestive comfort, immune protection, brain development, emotional balance, mobility and energy, obesity and too much sugar.”

“Even when growth in the infant formula market is slowing, we continue to see more demand for ingredients that allow premiumization of formulations — such as probiotics, alpha-lactalbumin, milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) or phospholipids, sn-2 palmitate or Oleic-Palmitic-Oleic (OPO), peptides and higher addition of lactoferrin. Outside of China, the use of HMOs is also becoming popular.” 

Closer to breast milk 
While parents are consistent in their interests and concerns for their infants, Rowan asserts that the infant nutrition industry can keep improving the offering of infant formula with innovative ingredients that help move the composition closer to breast milk. 

“For example, many minor bioactive components in breastmilk are not optimized in infant formula. There are other ways the industry can respond to parents’ broader concerns with products that align with their lifestyle concerns such as being more natural, better for the planet and less processed.” 

Breast milk inspires research into innovative ingredients such as biotics, including pre-/pro- and postbiotics and bioactive peptides.To ensure infant formula is more similar to breast milk composition, Fonterra has studied the benefits of fortifying products with MFGM components, explains Rowan. “Our research has shown improvements in cognitive development, memory, social-emotional development and behavior relative to the standard formula.” 

The company offers two types of MFGM ingredients, whey-based and buttermilk powder-like ingredients enriched in phospholipids, gangliosides and MFGM proteins that can be added to improve the composition. 

Innovating ingredients 
Despina Ioannides, global marketing manager of Early Life Nutrition at dsm-firmenich, adds that as the golden standard for infant nutrition, breast milk is the “source of inspiration with trending ingredient clusters – biotics.” These include pre-/pro- and postbiotics and promising biotech-derived bioactive peptides.

“Advancements in biotechnology have led to significant improvements in infant nutrition. Through proprietary strain development and optimization, established players and start-ups are developing solutions aiming to recreate components of breast milk and unlock its wonders.” 

“While a lot of effort is being expended for the development and scaling up of these ingredients, proving their safety, as well as incremental benefits, comes as a prerequisite before embarking on costly and lengthy regulatory approval processes.” 

Ioannides points to a need for productive and affordable solutions that do not compromise on safety or quality, which are paramount in the infant space, especially since premium ingredients with tailored functionality are becoming more niche as infant formula volumes reduce globally.

“Infant formula manufacturers look to innovate beyond novel ingredient inclusion in their products, through innovative and proprietary processing techniques, mimicking the architecture of breastmilk, improving the bioavailability of key nutrients and enabling growth patterns similar to that of breastfed infants.” 

She adds that dsm-firmenich focuses on making HMOs accessible globally. “In 2023, the dsm-firmenich HMOs, 2’FL and LNnT, received regulatory approval in China, enabling both local and international brands to bring their infant formula closer to the composition and functionality of breastmilk.”

Specialized formulas 
Valio’s Turpeinen highlights that cow’s milk fat has many natural similarities with human milk fat in composition and structure. She adds that fat significantly impacts infant health and well-being, providing for about half of the energy content of breast milk. 

“MFGM, a unique property of mammal milk, has been shown to enhance infants’ cognitive development and immune function. Also, OPO, the structural triglyceride supporting nutrient absorption, healthy growth and gut well-being, is naturally present in cow’s milk fat.” 

At the same time, she highlights the need for lactose-free formulas, which the Finnish dairy supplier also offers. “Digestive disorders and different gastrointestinal symptoms are estimated to affect about 30% of infants. Although lactose is an important component of breast milk, infants diagnosed with lactose intolerance benefit from a lactose-free formula.” 

Valio spots a need for lactose-free formulas as digestive disorders affect about 30% of infants.“We aim to provide solutions also for infants with special nutritional needs,” continues Turpeinen. “The prevalence of allergic diseases is increasing globally. Thus, the need for hypoallergenic formulas is on the rise.”

“We have protein hydrolysates to promote gut well-being and aim to expand our portfolio to hypoallergenic formula.”

Immunity and gut health 
Immunity claims remain relevant for infant nutrition, observes Ioannides from dsm-firmenich. At the same time, established and upcoming innovation opportunities opt to foster a balanced gut microbiome toward building solid foundations for optimum infant growth and development. 

“Tailoring nutrition solutions to specific benefits or geographies that address infant and young child needs becomes more prominent. Some start-up companies offer the first gut health test for moms and young children under three years old, inviting parents to detect gut imbalances and take corrective courses of action through probiotic supplementation.”

The company developed a postbiotic solution for supplements — Humiome Post LB baby — “composed of a combination of two proprietary lactobacillus strains, metabolites and a fermented culture medium that has proven to offer digestive health benefits for infants from birth.” 

Fonterra offers two probiotic ingredients used in clinical studies to support digestive health and immunity — SureStart Lactocaseibacillus rhamnosus HN001 and Bifidobacterium lactis HN019. 

“HN019 supports the development of bifidobacterial balance in the infant’s gut and helps protect against colds and flu (upper respiratory tract infections), as well as supporting gut regularity in adults,” explains Rowan. 

Meanwhile, HN001’s immune modulating mechanisms help protect against eczema and other allergic tendencies and infections. The ingredient has also been shown to support maternal health with the potential to reduce the risk of gestational diabetes and to improve mental health in adults, such as reduced postnatal anxiety and stress. 

Tailoring nutrition solutions to specific benefits such as gut health or immunity becomes more prominent.Breastfeeding mothers 
Meanwhile, Silvia Pisoni, global market manager at Gnosis by Lesaffre, highlights the need for pregnant and breastfeeding women to consume adequate folate or vitamin B9 to support the fetus and infant. 

“Breast milk is an important dietary source of folate during the first year of life. Folate concentrations in breast milk and maternal blood may decline over breastfeeding. The folate intake for infants from maternal breast milk or folate-enriched infant formula is crucial to ensure an adequate folate status in infants.”

“It has been shown that folic acid supplementation in lactating women is associated with increased unmetabolized folic acid (UMFA) in maternal blood, breast milk and infant blood. The same observation was made with infant formula enriched with folic acid.”

However, she cautions that UMFA is also associated with harmful health effects for mother and child. In contrast, if lactating women use supplements containing the active form of folate, such as Gnosis by Lesaffre’s Quatrefolic, UMFA does not increase. 

This ingredient is the “glucosamine salt of (6S)-5-methyltetrahydrofolate, structurally analogous to the reduced and active form of folic acid. It represents the fourth-generation folate compared to the 5-methyltetrahydrofolate calcium salt, guaranteeing improved bioavailability,” explains Pisoni.

Moreover, the supplement “more efficiently increases blood folate — red blood cell folate and plasma total folate — in the mother and infant as well as total folate concentrations in breast milk.” 

By Jolanda van Hal