Anmum wins infant nutrition award

Fonterra Co-operative Group’s global dairy maternal and infant nutrition brand, Anmum, has won the Infant Nutrition Ingredient of the Year category at the prestigious NutraIngredients-Asia Awards. 

Anmum was recognised for its Nuelipid ingredient, a complex milk lipid rich in gangliosides (GA) and phospholipids that support fetal brain and infants’ cognitive development. The ingredient was specifically developed by Fonterra for the Anmum maternal and paediatric range. 

Fonterra’s Global Brands Director of Anmum Corine Ooi says this is a huge achievement for not only the Anmum brand but the dairy nutrition company’s R&D and ingredients teams. 

“Our core focus is on delivering dairy nutrition to mothers and infants that will support their health, well-being and development throughout pregnancy and a child’s early stages of life. Brain development is a top concern for expectant mums across Asia when it comes to choosing which supplement to take. 

“Preliminary findings from our ongoing research programme suggests that pregnant women who add complex milk lipids to their diet have increased levels of GA in their blood. As a result, the developing fetus may receive GA across the placenta from their mother which is important to support fetal brain composition and brain development. This is why we have developed our Anmum Materna and Anmum Essential product range with Nuelipid – which is a complex milk lipid rich in GA, phospholipids and milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) proteins.”

Complex lipids are diverse groups of organic compounds such as fats, oils, certain vitamins and hormones that make up the building blocks of the structure and function of living cells. Found in breast milk, MFGM complex lipids such as GA and phospholipids are essential molecules for infant brain development, contributing to learning and memory.

Commenting on Fonterra’s award win, NutraIngredients-Asia Editor-in-Chief Gary Scattergood said, “The awards recognise and celebrate the industry’s biggest commercial success, best product developments and brightest research. 

“As you can imagine the sheer number of entries – and high standards from all that entered – made the judging process incredibly difficult. I want to congratulate Fonterra for being a truly deserving winner – creating an ingredient for the infant market that really makes a difference in consumers’ lives.” 

Fonterra’s global ingredients team, NZMP, was also heavily involved in the development of the Nuelipid ingredient. NZMP Marketing Manager for Paediatrics Angela Rowan says the achievement highlights the Co-op’s expertise in dairy R&D and innovation. 

“This Nuelipid ingredient, which we have named SureStart took about 15 years to develop, including many years of research and clinical trials. We are extremely proud of the hard work and the long journey we undertook to develop an advanced nutrition ingredient that we can share with the world.” 

The Nutra Ingredients-Asia Awards celebrate the industry’s brightest research and best innovative ingredients in key consumer categories. The judging process assesses factors such as cutting-edge research, robust clinical research program and solid scientific evidence to support ingredient claims.