New product opportunities with gut health benefits

Background:

Gut health is a large and growing opportunity in which dairy is well credentialed. The functional food and dietary supplement market for gut health is worth around $23b/y. In Australia, health care expenditure for digestive diseases is around $4.5b/y.

However the dairy industry could be missing out on many more valuable gut health opportunities than those currently associated with gut microflora. Gut health offers 'green field' opportunities around high value component development. Dairy Australia has IP in the development of healthy immune response in infants. However this IP needs further development to enhance commercialisation.

Project objective:

Develop high margin dairy product opportunities for the Australian Dairy industry based on proven gut health benefits. In the short term IP already developed in this area will be advanced with industry with the aim for industry to take over the opportunity within a few years.

Project scope:

Investigate dairy components that provide high-margin product opportunities in the area of gut health. In the short term this includes developing currently identified opportunities for improving immune and gut neuron health. Complimenting this will be the initiation of new opportunity development.

In the longer term these new opportunities are expected to be developed towards commercial uptake. Therefore the continuing relatively high spend in the budget for the next 5y reflects the continued investment in commercialising current IP (out to 2013/14) and the subsequent development of new opportunities, which started in 2010/11, and is expected to increase up until 2014/15.

Outcomes/benefits:

Products directed towards gut health are key drivers of the $8b/y nutraceutical market. Burden of disease values put the associated issues up there with cardiovascular and oral health issues. Dairy Australia has identified IP that could be beneficial in maintaining a healthy gut nervous system as well as other IP that could improve the immune development of infants.

Through the involvement of commercial parties during 2011 we intend to assist the commercialisation assessment. If key targets are met in the immune opportunity, it is expected that industry will take over the investment in 2013/14 on a path for commercialisation a few years later.

The gut neuron development is in the early stages of development and it is expected that complete uptake by industry would be still some years off provided targets are met. Further opportunities are being scoped with industry in this area for possible development in 2012.

More information:

For more information, contact Ian Mitchell, Dairy Australia Nutrition Bioscience Manager.