Fonterra Unveils Groundbreaking Research at Congress of Pediatricians in Moscow

Feb 28 2012 --- Bioactive dairy lipids and proprietary probiotic strains have shown new benefits for gut health, allergy reduction and immune enhancement according to new research revealed by Fonterra. The ground breaking results were presented by Fonterra’s lead research scientists at the XVI Congress of Paediatricians in Moscow, the premiere annual conference for paediatricians in Russia.

Dr. Paul McJarrow - one of Fonterra’s lead researchers for bioactive dairy lipids - presented a recent clinical study Association of complex lipids containing gangliosides with cognitive development of 6-month old infants, which has shown that increasing the ganglioside levels in infant formula through the addition of complex dairy lipids, results in improved cognitive development scores compared to infants fed standard formula.

 

Dr. McJarrow explained: “Fat or lipids make up around one-third of the total solid ingredients of breast milk and infant formula, but most commercially available infant formulas do not contain milk fat globule membrane proteins and bioactive dairy lipids such as phospholipids and gangliosides at the same level as human milk.”

 

“The difficulty around incorporating these ingredients in infant formula is maintaining their bioactivity” said Dr. McJarrow. Fonterra has developed gentle processing techniques which maintain the bioactivity of lipids. The dairy giant has access to one of the largest sources of complex dairy lipids in the world, and Fonterra’s complex dairy lipids have been shown to provide protection against infections as well as assist in cognitive development.

 

Dr. McJarrow continued: "While there is no question that breast milk is the best form of food for newborns and infants, some mothers are unable to breastfeed for medical or other reasons. This is why it’s important they have access to safe and nutritious alternatives offering nutritional benefits as close as possible to those provided by human milk.”

 

Research amongst Russian mums and health care professionals carried out by Fonterra in 2011, highlighted that mothers are most worried about infants contracting infections such as colds and flu, followed by digestive issues such as colic, spit up, diarrhoea and constipation.

 

Fonterra’s complex dairy lipids address some of these concerns as they have been shown to have high anti-rotavirus activity, which could be beneficial for the 95 per cent of children who will experience an episode of rotavirus diarrhoea by the time they turn five.

 

Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children, and accounts for around 138 million cases of infantile diarrhoea per year. “We have been able to confirm the high anti-rotavirus activity of Fonterra’s complex dairy lipids in in-vitro studies which showed around a 50 per cent reduction in the number of cells infected with rotavirus”, said Dr McJarrow.

 

Fonterra also unveiled new developments in probiotics, an area that the company’s research has shown has high awareness amongst Russian mums and health care professionals for the ability to deliver digestive health and immunity benefits.

 

Dr. James Dekker, one of Fonterra’s lead research scientists in probiotics, presented a clinical trial that demonstrated the ability of Fonterra’s Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 (DR20) to manage the symptoms of paediatric allergies, especially atopic dermatitis (eczema).

 

The study is due to be published in Clinical and Experimental Allergy – the journal for the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology - and involved 425 infants, monitored for 4 years. The findings indicated that DR20 consumption by infants until 2 years of age reduced the prevalence of eczema by 45% and the severity of eczema symptoms by 41%. At the 4-year follow-up, the infants in the DR20-fed group continued to show reduced prevalence of eczema compared to infants in the placebo group, 2 years after stopping the supplementation.

 

The rates of childhood allergy have been increasing in many countries and the incidence of eczema in 6-7 year olds measured as part of the international ISAAC study was reported to be up to 16% in Europe. 

 

Dr. Dekker also presented a study involving two groups of 312 healthy children aged 1-3 years, which looked at the benefits of Fonterra’s Bifidobacterium animalis subspecies lactis HN019 (DR10) probiotic in conjunction with prebiotic galacto-olichosaccharide (GOS) for gut and immune function.  At the end of a 2 year follow up, the group fed the fortified milk enriched with DR10 and GOS demonstrated reduced disease risks across a range of childhood morbidities including dysentery, pneumonia, and severe-acute lower respiratory infections compared to the control group fed the fortified milk.

 

Fonterra focuses its paediatric research and innovation on bringing value-add solutions to market, such as probiotics, hydrolysates and complex dairy lipids. Solutions are targeted at consumer health needs such as increased protection against allergy and infections, and digestive comfort.