Safe Milk for Infants

Human breast milk is dubbed to be the best source of balanced nutrition to infants. The most important stage of growth and development for babies is from the day they are born until they turn one year old. It is during this period that breast milk is most essential for the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends breastfeeding for at least the first six months of an infant. Infants who are deprived of this natural source of nutrition would have infant formulae as the other legitimate option. However, this option poses two main issues and concerns.

With the market becoming more consolidated, new ingredients are slowly marching their way into the infant nutrition arena. As manufacturers introduce novel variations, they need to ensure their products are healthy for the infants.

• Unethical marketing practices

The commercial infant formula industry has been blamed intermittently for marketing its product offerings over human breast milk. There have been instances in the past when companies such as Nestlé S.A. and H. J. Heinz were found guilty of undertaking aggressive marketing campaigns to promote their infant nutrition products.

Unethical promotion of infant nutrition products is a violation of the International Code of Marketing for Breast Milk Substitutes, drawn by the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body for the WHO. Associations such as the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) have been actively taking initiatives to promote breastfeeding and keeping a close watch on unethical marketing practices by infant formula manufacturers.

• Quality issues

There have been more incidents of contamination of infant formula products recently. In 2008, some of the infant nutrition products manufactured in China were found to be contaminated with high amounts of toxic substances such as melamine, which proved hazardous to the lives of many infants.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the infant nutrition industry in the US and after such incidents in China, the agency conducted tests to verify whether infant formula products that are offi cially registered with FDA are safe for infant consumption.

Types and variants

The infant nutrition market entails two distinct segments – infant formulae and baby foods. Infant formulae can be segmented into three main categories based on the growth stage of infants:

• Stage-one formula products/ baby milks are for infants who are between one and six months,

• Stage-two/ follow-up formula products are for infants who are between six and 12 months, and

• Stage-three formula products are for toddlers aged between one and three years.

The composition of infant formulae, which can be milk-based or soy protein-based, is created to offer products that suit the needs of infants and toddlers. Specialized formulae belong to a different product category that are designed to meet special requirements of infants who are suffering from health problems due to premature birth, allergies, metabolic disorders, inflammatory conditions and low immunity.

Similac NeoSure and Enfamil Premature LIPIL for example are infant formulae produced for premature and low-birth weight babies. Abbot Nutrition’s Cyclinex-1 provides nutrition to infants and toddlers with a urea cycle disorder, gyrate atrophy of the choroid and retina or HHH syndrome.

Chart 1: Key ingredient and product trends in the US and European infant nutrition market in 2008.

Trends

Traditionally, primary ingredients of an infant formula are proteins, vitamins, essential fatty acids, minerals and carbohydrates. Of late, a number of ingredients have been used to fortify infant formulae. These include popular ingredients such as algal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA), probiotics, and protein hydrolysates (whey, casein).

In 2008, DSM Nutritional Products launched omega-3 fish oil powder, Ropufa ‘10’ n-3 INF Powder S/SD, which claims to contain an ideal balance of DHA and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) for infant formula. Organic product variations have also been successful in carving a niche in the total infant formula market. Specialized formulae have also garnered positive consumer attention. Chart 1 illustrates the key ingredient and product trends in the US and European infant nutrition market in 2008.

Conclusion

The significance of nutrition is more pronounced for the infant population who are not feeding on breast milk. In this aspect, stricter regulations are needed to prevent irresponsible marketing of infant nutrition products by companies. There should also be laws to prevent unfortunate incidents of counterfeit and contaminated infant nutrition products.

As the market becomes more consolidated, new ingredients are making their way slowly into the infant nutrition arena. As manufacturers introduce novel variations, they need to ensure their products are healthy for the infants.

In the backdrop of increasing criticism of product safety and ethical marketing strategies, this industry is expected to offer more space to ethical business models that are supported by sound parenting in the future. With the synergy of public and private bodies, it is likely that infants can feed on healthier, more innovative products in the years to come

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Movers and Shakers

The infant nutrition market has witnessed a series of consolidation activities in the past few years.

Here are some of them:

• In April 2007, Nestle SA acquired Gerber Products, expanding its global reach in the baby foods market.

• In November 2007, Groupe Danone acquired Numico Foods and became Europe’s leading infant nutrition company.

• In January 2008, Entremont Alliance and Sodiaal, a French dairy cooperative group, merged their subsidiaries Cofranlait and Sodiaal Industrie to form Nutribio. The new company produces infant formulae and baby foods.

The infant nutrition industry’s bigwigs also entered into a few crucial agreements with the ingredient companies.

• In August 2008, Nestle nutrition formed an agreement with Nordic BioGaia AB to license the rights for its Lactobacillus reuteri probiotic in Europe and Asia. The new agreement with Nestlé cover all world markets, except Japan and South Korea.

• In February 2008, Martek Biosciences Corp and Numico entered into a license and supply agreement for infant nutrition products. Martek became Numico's exclusive supplier for all of its ARA and microbially derived DHA needs for infant formula products.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------