Fonterra’s Breakthroughs in Infant Milk Nutrition

Fonterra (Auckland, New Zealand) announced three new developments with its infant nutrition ingredients at the XVI Congress of Paediatricians held in Moscow last month. The multinational dairy co-op presented results of three clinical trials on various dairy-format ingredients.

In a clinical study on Fonterra’s “complex dairy lipids,” infants consuming formula with these lipids showed improvement in cognitive development, compared to infants consuming a standard infant formula. Fonterra’s complex lipids previously demonstrated activity against rotavirus diarrhea, which affects an estimated 95% of children within their first five years of life.

A second study, to be published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy, featured 425 infants consuming placebo or DR20, Fonterra’s Lactobacillus rhamnosis HN001 probiotic strain. After two years of supplementation, infants in the DR20 group showed reduced prevalence of the skin allergy eczema (atopic dermatitis) by 45%, compared to placebo. After four years of follow-up, the DR20 group continued to show a lower prevalence of eczema.

Lastly, Fonterra offered up the results of a recent human clinical trial on infant formula with its DR10 probiotic strain (Bifidobacterium animalis subspecies lactis HN019) and a prebiotic galactooligosacharide (GOS). The probiotic- and GOS-enriched infant formula was linked to reduced risks of several childhood morbidities (e.g. dysentery, pneumonia, and severe-acute lower respiratory infections) compared to placebo milk in a trial of 312 children.