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Dairy Ingredients as Nutraceuticals
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Friday, 15 May, 2015, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Dr R B Smarta
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fiogf49gjkf0d The increasing availability of milk and milk products has led to a lot of changes in the consumption pattern of Indian consumers over a period of time. Milk is available in a number of variants depending upon their composition or content.
Milk has always been considered as a whole food or a naturally functional food. Naturally functional foods are those which have naturally beneficial properties, they do not need to be fortified with anything. Milk is a unique food that has got power to sustain life in all stages of human development right from childhood to old age.
Although today with increasing awareness among consumers, there is an increase in demand for low fat variants of milk & milk products such as skimmed, low fat, and double toned milk. To obtain these healthy variants, milk is highly processed during which the essential elements from milk are lost thus there is a need to fortify milk with the lost nutrients. Apart from these, there is another trend of milk and milk products with extended shelf-life.
Dairy-Based Nutraceuticals
In nutraceuticals many new segments are emerging in the nutrition & wellness sector. One such segment is dairy-based nutraceuticals.
The macro & micro components of milk have the potential of being nutraceuticals themselves. As a result of increasing awareness, the dairy benefits are understandable to the average consumer and dairy products available are affordable even with value-added benefits.
Dairy Nutraceuticals Market
The dairy nutraceuticals market is nascent in India. Whereas Japan is globally the most advanced market in case of dairy nutraceutical products, where the nutraceutical dairy products represent up to 44% of the total dairy market.
Dairy Market
The current market size of the dairy industry in India is Rs 2.6 trillion and is estimated to grow up to Rs 3.7 trillion by 2015.
Dairy Ingredients and their Nutraceutical/Functional Properties
Dairy ingredients have a number of health benefits and it has been observed that many of them have nutraceutical potential.
Some of the components of milk & their potential benefits are as below:
Components of milk | Potential nutraceutical benefits | a-Lactoglobulin Whey Protein | Increases tryptophan & serotonin activity in brain, Antimicrobial activity. | ß-Lactoglobulin Lactoferrin Whey Protein | Enhance glutathione synthesis, Antibacteiral, increase bioavailability of iron. | Lactobacilli, Bifidobacteria Probiotics | Helps improve gastrointestinal health & systemic immunity. | CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) Fatty Acids | Anti-cancer, Anti-atherosclerosis, Anti-obesity. | Lactose Prebiotics | Bifidogenic factor, improve GIT conditions in infants, laxative. | GOS (Galacto-oligosaccharides) Prebiotics | Promote growth of probiotic bacteria, anticancer, increase mineral bioavailability. | Caseino-phosphopeptieds Bioactive Peptides | Mineral binding specially calcium, immune system defence, nervous system. | Casomorphins Bioactive Peptides (Proteolysis of a & ß-casein) | Increase intestinal water & electrolyte absorption, increase GI transit time. |
The dairy nutraceuticals market is segmented into major categories, based on the dairy ingredients and their nutraceutical properties. Some of the major categories are
•Bioactive Peptides
•Whey and other Protein Fractions
•Probiotics & Prebiotics
•Lactose Derivative
•Vitamins & Minerals
Although the dairy nutraceuticals market is at a nascent stage, it is poised for huge growth. Some of the factors which could act as drivers of growth for this industry are as below:
Growth Drivers
?Increasing health-consciousness
?Increasing baby boomer population
?Educated middle-aged women and athletes are still top consumers - but nowadays the marketing of the products is less about the consumer and more about the specific condition the product is formulated to address
?Increasing disposable income
?Increasing health-consciousness – Willingness to pay more for functional / enhanced dairy products
?Increasing healthcare related costs – Driving consumers from cure to prevention
?Potential of dairy industry in nutraceuticals.
Commercial uses of Dairy Nutraceutical Ingredients
Many of the dairy ingredients with nutraceutical properties already have commercial applications. Some of the dairy ingredients and their commercial applications are
?Whey proteins
Dairy whey proteins find their major application in sports nutrition market. In India, since 2007, the sales of sports-nutrition products, mostly based on whey proteins, have doubled to reach $396 million in 2013. With increase in fitness & health-consciousness, this category is expected to witness an exponential increase in coming years.
Apart from use in sports nutrition whey protein have other applications such as in dry blends, infant formula, dairy applications and other nutraceutical-pharmaceuticals applications.
?Milk in infant formulas
Dairy nutraceutical ingredients are widely used in infant formulas. Today specific infant formulas such as hypoallergenic, pre-term formulas or formulas to prevent diarrhoea using milk hydrolysates and other specific dairy ingredients are in vogue. One of the recent trends in infant formula market is the use of nutrients from bovine milk so that it mimics mother's milk, substantial research is being done in this area.
The baby food and formula market in India had witnessed a CAGR of 4.18% from 2006-2011. In India, baby powder and food account for highest revenue generation in terms of export of dairy products.
?Yogurt probiotics & other products
With the increasing awareness about probiotics, the consumption of yogurt has increased widely. Not just yogurt but the consumption of various other related products has increased mainly due to the broad consumer acceptance of packaged yogurt and frozen yogurt products which satisfy the lifestyle and convenience needs of consumers. The yogurt industry in India is expected to continue growing at a CAGR of 40-45%.
?Milk as a carrier for nutraceuticals & other bioactive ingredients
Milk is used as a vehicle to carry the various bioactive components or other functional ingredients. For delivering non-dairy bioactives like phytosterols, and Omega-3 fatty acids, milk-based beverages and yogurt-based products are used as vehicles. A recent development in this area is the use of milk proteins for encapsulation and delivery vehicles of bioactives in functional foods.
•Food supplements
The use of food supplements by consumers has increased in the past few years. The food supplements market is very important from the point of dairy ingredients business, as more and more dairy ingredients are being used in food supplements. E.g., whey proteins, alpha-lactalbumin, lactoferrin in blends, ß-lactoglobulin in products for high blood pressure, cGMP in appetite regulation, and IgG supplement to antibodies.
?Milk in medical foods
Medical foods are the foods which are specially formulated and intended for the dietary management of a disease which have distinctive nutritional needs that cannot be met by normal diet alone. For various clinical conditions like premature infants or for infants with special inborn errors of metabolism etc. milk is widely used. Medical foods market revenue is expected to reach approximately US$4.2 billion in 2017.
Way Forward
Dairy nutraceuticals industry is poised for a better future. For viable growth, the dairy nutraceuticals industry needs to have a business model. Understanding the demand of consumers and building an efficient marketing network will definitely help this industry grow further. Now the question is, with the knowledge of milk being naturally functional, will the dairy nutraceuticals trend go back towards natural benefits of milk from the current added ingredients?
Resources
•Ubic Consulting: Dairy nutritional & nutraceutical ingredients market
•Nuffoods Spectrum magazine, Emerging Segment Article by Dr. R.B. Smarta
•Innovation in Healthy & Functional Foods, Dilip Ghosh, R.B. Smarta & others
•Smartinvestor Business-standard, ASSOCHAM report
•Whey Protein Ingredients Market, UBIC Consulting
•The Economist, Protein shakes, Bruising, The protein-supplement industry takes a punch Apr 27th 2013
•INGREDIENTS FOR THE WORLD INFANT FORMULA MARKET, Ubic Consulting 2014
•India Baby Food and Formula Market - Bright Prospects for Dry Baby Food
•NDDB & Ministry of Animal Husbandry. Indian Dairy Industry Report, Indian Microfinance
(The author is managing director, Interlink Marketing Consultancy)
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