Nestle eyes special needs in infant nutrition market

The maternity and baby nutrition unit of the global food and beverage maker Nestle SA is investing heavily in advocating allergy prevention and intervention by joining hands with the maternity community as well as baby and infant product platforms, in an effort to enhance its focus on special needs nutrition food and formula products in China.

"The Chinese market is so big, and we don't need to focus everywhere. We identify somewhere we can contribute more where our ability to win is higher because our products are science-based," said Binu Jacob, senior vice-president of the Baby Nutrition Business Unit for Nestle China.

Jacob said in China about 10 percent of babies are born with an allergy risk and the number is climbing.

Nestle Infant Nutrition has launched allergy prevention month recently in Beijing to call for enhanced awareness among mothers and communities to pay attention to the first 1,000 days in a life. Activities include courses and lectures with clinics and maternity communities on these subjects.

According to the report White Paper on Baby and Infant Allergy jointly released by Nestle Maternity and Infants as well as Ivybaby, a visible shortage of causes and symptoms of allergy among Chinese families has been found. More than 70 percent of Chinese parents are not aware that formulas could cause allergies.

Cui Yutao, head of Ivybaby, a leading mother and baby vertical platform, suggested Chinese parents use probiotics properly and avoid abusing antibiotics to build a healthy intestinal environment to reduce risks in allergy among babies.