“Breakthrough” dry vitamin A incorporated into dsm-firmenich’s baby formula ingredient

With vitamin A being essential for the development and maintenance of healthy vision in infants, dsm-firmenich has released a dry form of vitamin A in a “breakthrough clean label solution” designed to enrich baby formula nutrition without the stability issues associated with traditional vitamin A ingredients. 

As the most unstable vitamin molecule, traditional forms of vitamin A often degrade during processing and over time, potentially compromising the nutritional efficacy of infant nutrition solutions.

The new dry form vitamin A from dsm-firmenich, branded Dry Vit A Palmitate for Early Life Nutrition, addresses these challenges with its “enhanced stability.”

The company reports vitamin A deficiency is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness, affecting up to 30% of children under five years globally. “It is particularly prevalent in developing countries, yet supplementation for infants remains uncommon — despite the vitamin’s essential role in immune function, cell growth and differentiation and skin health.”

“Breastfeeding is the gold standard for infant feeding, but infant formulas offer a safe alternative way of providing essential nutrition for early life when breastfeeding is not possible. While the importance of vitamin A in infant nutrition is well recognized, so too are the challenges involved in its processing and storage for infant premixes.”

Enhanced stability with clean positioning

Many fortification efforts, such as “golden rice” and “golden lettuce,” center around introducing vitamin A to whole foods. Fortifying ingredients has represented a major challenge as vitamin A is unstable and difficult to preserve during food fortification processing such as hulling and milling. Its instability also presents challenges for storage.

Designed to withstand the rigors of production while maintaining nutritional potency, the solution is suitable for dry and wet blending applications in infant and early life nutrition premixes. It also boasts a small particle size, with at least 85% of particles passing through sieve No. 60 (250μm) — making it ideal for infant formula fortification.

The supplier highlights 67% of parents are concerned about additives in infant nutrition products, underscoring a growing need for clean label solutions that contain minimal artificial ingredients.

Stabilized with mixed tocopherols only, Dry Vit A Palmitate for Early Life Nutrition is free from synthetic antioxidants, silica and other flow agents. It is also branded vegan, allergen-free, GMO-free, sugar-free, Halal and Kosher.

“Our new Dry Vit A Palmitate for Early Life Nutrition represents a significant step forward in infant nutrition technology to support optimal nutrient delivery, potentially benefiting millions of formula-fed infants globally,” says James Young, VP of Early Life Nutrition at dsm-firmenich.

“This latest addition to our portfolio has been carefully created with a minimum of essential functional ingredients to deliver a solution that’s exceptionally stable and offers a clean label formulation.”

In other food enrichment moves, dsm-firmenich previously unveiled its dry form of vitamin A in a stable and clean label solution for flour fortification.