Yili is already known for its liquid milk and yogurt products. It is also one of the leading infant formula companies in China.
As China’s aging population grows, the company is gearing up to meet the nutritional needs of middle-aged to older adults.
In May, for example, the company partnered with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) company Beijing Tongrentang to launch products for bone health, metabolic health, and general wellness.
Healthy aging is one of Yili’s key portfolios, and it aims to harness the benefits of milk to meet these needs.
“Some of the biggest needs of this segment of consumers are their basic daily nutrition, better bones, joint, and muscle health, and better immunity. These are also areas in which milk and dairy products can deliver benefits for, and consumers are knowledgeable about this as well,” Ignatius Szeto, assistant president at Yili Group, told NutraIngredients.
Chinese consumers, in particular, are familiar with immune health and sleep benefits from milk consumption.
“Consumers know that milk is a good source of quality protein, which is, in turn, good for the muscles. Milk is also a significant source of calcium, which is good for the bones,” he said. “Consumers in China also know that milk is good for immunity, sleep, and is a very significant component of our diet, and these areas are the foundations of our product innovation.”
Beyond the usual bone and joint health, Szeto said that there was also research into how functional ingredients in milk can support metabolic health, such as blood glucose management through improved insulin signaling in muscles.
Synergistic ingredients
Yili’s partnership with Beijing Tongrentang caters to Chinese consumers’ needs by infusing TCM - a concept that they are already familiar with.
“A lot of Chinese consumers believe in TCM and are adopting the Chinese food and medicine homology. Based on the TCM concept, food is like medicine, so Yili collaborated with Beijing Tongrentang to launch a series of new products,” said Szeto, who is also in charge of international science research at Yili Innovation Center.
Four products were co-launched with Beijing Tongrentang, including Xinhuo Blood Sugar Management Formula Milk Powder, Xinhuo Bone Health Formula Milk Powder, Xinhuo Sleep Formula Milk Powder, and Xinmu Red Ginseng Milk Powder.
Xinhuo Blood Sugar Management Formula Milk Powder, for example, is a low glycemic index (GI) formulation that contains Ganoderma lucidum, Kudzu root, and Polygonatum odoratum as the TCM components.
Xinmu Red Ginseng Milk Powder, on the other hand, contains ginseng, hawthorn, fish oil powder, and phytosterol esters.
Dairy players in the scene
Adult or elderly nutrition has become one of the key portfolios for dairy companies active in China in recent years.
Examples include Chinese infant formula brand Junlebao, which has developed milk powder designed for supporting calcium absorption in middle-aged and elderly consumers, and The a2 Milk Company, which has formulated products for supporting the immune system, bone, joint, and muscle health, which it said were fast sold out during the Chinese New Year gifting season this year.
“What the dairy industry is doing right now is locating and finding the needs of consumers and then leveraging the dairy foundation and better functional ingredients to design better products for the consumers. That’s what the entire dairy and food industry is doing in China.
“The population is aging at a relatively fast pace, so the adult nutrition and elderly nutrition market segment will grow bigger and bigger, and it’s up to the dairy industry and food industry and also the other related health food industry to work and innovate faster and more efficiently to capture consumers’ needs, especially their health and nutrition needs and provide them with better vitality and better health lifestyle,” said Szeto.
On the other hand, bone health is a major category in China’s healthy aging segment, with Haleon highlighting China as its biggest market for its bone and joint health supplement brand Caltrate.
Advanced dairy processing aid
The use of advanced dairy processing is a key enabler of Yili’s functional nutrition business, Szeto pointed out.
Examples of functional dairy-derived ingredients include whey protein, lactoferrin, lacto-albumin, and beta-casein.
“These dairy-derived ingredients yielded via advanced dairy processing are some of our most important and heavily focused strategies for the company’s growth into the future,” he said. “In recent years, Yili has been putting a lot of effort and investments based on our strategic focus on advanced dairy processing to capture more business and consumer value.”
Yili will then formulate these ingredients into finished products, although it is also pursuing B2B revenues for its functional ingredients.
One of its finished products, Satine Active Lactoferrin Organic Pure Milk, for instance, contains lactoferrin derived from advanced dairy processing.
“One example is our Satine product, where we isolate lactoferrin and put it back into liquid milk aseptically for a higher concentration of lactoferrin,” said Szeton. The product also won Innovation in New Product Development at the International Dairy Federation Dairy Innovation Awards held in Paris last October.
