Glanbia works weight management market

20-Feb-2009 - Last updated on 20-Feb-2009 at 11:52 GMT

Related tags Glanbia performance nutrition Nutrition

Irish dairy and ingredients group, Glanbia, will expand its weight management offerings“to address the rising incidence of obesity by creating products that are low fat, healthy and taste good.”

Via the UK-based Glanbia Performance Nutrition division it established in 2005 to target the sports nutrition market, Glanbia said weight management solutions had become a priority of the division in areas such as whey-based, ready-to-mix (RTM) and ready-to-drink (RTD) products.

“This is an exciting time for Glanbia Performance Nutrition as we continue to pioneer in the development of nutritional, sports and weight management ingredients,” said Seb Mullin, general manager at Glanbia Nutritionals.

Glanbia Performance Nutrition, a division of Glanbia Nutritionals, was established to focus on the budding sports nutrition market, and offers a“unique end-to-end product development and manufacturing company”.

Its offerings, that also include nutrition bars, target professional athletes, body builders as well as “the average consumer”.

Frost & Sullivan estimates the European sports nutrition market will surpass the €4 billion mark in Europe by 2010 – and it is a food industry segment that is growing more rapidly than most.

Glanbia says this “demonstrates the growing demand for products that support healthy lifestyle, exercise and nutrition.”

Mullin added: “The creation of Glanbia Performance Nutrition is in line with Glanbia Nutritionals strategy to advance our solutions, blending and applications capability.”

Glanbia Performance Nutrition offerings include customised nutrition bars as well as high-protein, high-energy, low-GI, high-fibre and meal replacement options in various formats such as RTD and RTM powders.

Glanbia last year publicised a human, clinical study that demonstrated the GI benefits of adding its Prolibra weight management to liquid meals.

Participants experienced a statistically significant reduction of up to 37.8 Glycemic Index units when Prolibra was added to a liquid meal consisting of 50g of glucose.

Prolibra is a partially hydrolyzed whey protein isolate, high in protein and low in fat. Glanbia's suggested uses for the ingredient include beverages, powdered beverage mixes and snack bars.