The two new products, marketed as Materna Expert Healthy Pregnancy and Materna Expert Post-Birth Recovery, are additions to the existing Materna Expert product known as Materna Expert Preconception Support launched last year.
Other products under the Materna range include Materna Algae Oil DHA and Materna Opti-Lac for reducing mastitis risk.
The new Materna Expert products, which come in the form of powder, will be launched in China under the Wyeth brand through cross-border e-commerce.
China was chosen for the products’ Asia debut due to its market size for pregnancy-related products, Nestlé said.
In fact, China is the second-largest country in terms of annual pregnancies, after India.
Nestlé announced women’s health, including maternal health, as a new growth platform earlier this year. This is partly because the market has been rapidly expanding in recent years, the company told NI in an interview in June.
What’s in it
Probiotic and multivitamins were some of the key ingredients used in the Materna Expert range.
In Materna Expert Healthy Pregnancy, for example, the key ingredients used include folic acid, probiotics, and multivitamins. The product claims to replenish nutrients needed and support smooth bowel movement during pregnancy.
Materna Expert Post-Birth Recovery, on the other hand, contains calcium and phosphorus and claims to support recovery for mothers who have undergone C-section, and supplements the nutritional needs of breastfeeding mothers.
The preconception support formula contains inositol, probiotics, and multivitamins as the main ingredients. This product was also launched in Brazil last year and will be introduced to more markets next year.
Clinically-backed formulations
The new products were developed based on the findings of a clinical trial conducted in three countries: Singapore, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
Known as NiPPeR (Nutritional Intervention Preconception and During Pregnancy to Maintain Healthy Glucose Metabolism and Offspring Health), the clinical trial involved 1,729 women between 18 and 38 years old, where the study was conducted from pre-conception through pregnancy and post-birth stage.
The intervention group took a powder sachet containing myo-inositol, probiotics L. rhamnosus NCC4007 and B. animalis sp. Lactis NCC2818, and micronutrients vitamins B2, B6, B12, D, and zinc.
The control group, on the other hand, took a standard micronutrient supplement containing folic acid, iron, calcium, iodine, and beta-carotene.
It was found that the intervention was especially useful for overweight women, as they could conceive within a shorter period after going through the intervention.
The intervention also reduced the incidence of preterm delivery, particularly those associated with preterm prelabor rupture of membranes, operative delivery for delayed second stage, and major postpartum hemorrhage.
There was also a significantly lower risk of obesity among children born to mothers who went through the intervention.
“These innovations reflect our unwavering commitment to science-led solutions and our strategic focus on women’s health, a key growth platform for Nestlé,” said Isabelle Bureau-Franz, Head of R&D for Nutrition at Nestlé.
“These launches are the result of more than a decade of rigorous research through public-private partnerships, demonstrating how tailored nutrition can transform health outcomes for mothers and babies and deliver measurable benefits that last well beyond birth,” she added.
