The Growth Asia Summit 2023 was held in Singapore on September 26, with the theme “Trends and Innovation Opportunities Across the Life Stages”. The three-day event, organized by FoodNavigator-Asia and NutraIngredients-Asia, convened senior experts from the region’s biggest brands, as well as the region’s most innovative suppliers and academics.

Dairy products play a crucial role in human health across various life stages, which is why many leading dairy producers have increased their R&D investment in basic human nutrition research. Yili Group is one of the earliest companies to carry out dairy-related health research within China. Dr. Philip Wescombe, Research and Development Manager of Yili Innovation Center Oceania, delivered a keynote speech at the Summit, sharing Yili’s research on how dairy-derived proteins and probiotics can provide important health benefits for consumers across various life stages.

Over the past two decades, Yili has achieved many scientific outcomes, from breast milk research and nutrition design for children and adults, to dairy-derived proteins and probiotics, and natural ingredient applications for specific health needs.

Dr. Wescombe noted that Yili is the earliest Chinese enterprise to carry out breast milk research. After 21 years of dedicated efforts, the company has gained functional breakthroughs in research on breast milk lipids, proteins, and polysaccharides, which have been successfully applied in Yili’s milk powder brand Jinglingguan. To date, Jinlingguan has received patents for five core proprietary formulas and 14 intellectual property rights overseas, and owns 10 patents related to human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs).

Targeting child nutrition design, Yili carried out its research back in 2006, covering the nutritional requirements of children in different regions and the nutrition profiles of children at various ages. Research outcomes have been applied in the Cute Star DHA Pure Milk that helps support eye, brain, and cardiac health in children.

In response to the need for functional food for adults, Yili launched the SHUHUA AnTangJian Sugar Control Lactose-Free Milk this year, which helps to control blood sugar levels with raw materials extracted from more than 100 MFH (medicine food homology) plants identified through Yili’s digitalized platform. According to Dr. Wescombe, as the health benefits of probiotics are gaining wider recognition, dairy products with active probiotics have also become increasingly popular. Unfortunately, traditional room-temperature yogurt is not an ideal environment to maintain the viability of probiotic strains and achieving this room temperature stability has been the target of the probiotic industry for decades. With this in consideration, Yili’s flagship yogurt brand AMBPOMIAL has developed for the first time globally, a room-temperature stable probiotic yoghurt with a 6 month shelf life. This is achieved through the post-pasteurization addition of carefully selected probiotics in a germ-free environment. The yogurt also features less sugar and higher protein content to amplify health benefits.

Further detailing Yili’s scientific research on probiotics, Dr. Wescombe introduced the Yilife brand that Yili developed based on its global network over the past decade. The brand owns four integral platforms, focusing on probiotic strain bank building, function development and clinical evaluation, strain application and fermentation technology, technique and quality management. Sourced from maternal and infant strains, Yili has developed three new probiotic strains (bifidobacterium lactis BL-99 and lactobacillus paracasei K56 and ET-22) that can support intestinal health, weight control and oral health, and have been employed in Yili’s popular products.

Commenting on Yili’s innovative practices, Dr. Mónica Olivares Martin, RD&A Director of Women & Infant’s Health of Kerry Ingredients said that functional food is getting popular due to the health awareness of consumers. Yilli is innovating in this space and creating functional products to address the different needs of different populations.

Likewise, Job van Rozendaal, Managing Director APAC of FrieslandCampina Ingredients stated, “What I like about Yili is that the speed of innovation is so rapid, which is really a game changer at this moment in the market. Now we work together with Yili on multiple innovation projects, and we really hope to continue to do so in the future.”

Talking about the potential and opportunities of the APAC region, Gary Scattergood, Editor-in-Chief of FoodNavigator-Asia and NutraIngredients-Asia said that the challenge for the industry in this region is not where is the opportunity, but where we can have the most impact on consumer health.