Speaking during a presentation at Food and Health Ingredients Europe last week, Groenenboom pointed out that the life stages that women go through impact their nutrition needs, including their requirements for protein, folic acid, probiotics, iron and more.
Yet despite the huge awareness of the health implications of new motherhood, over half of women find it difficult to improve their health after giving birth (IPSOS data), with the stress of looking after a newborn taking a significant toll.
The opportunity
As such, Groenenboom says probiotics are fast-becoming a catch-all solution in this space.
"There's more and more awareness regarding the importance of probiotics during pregnancy for the health of the mother and their baby. Doctors also are more frequently recommending probiotics in this group of patients."
She noted the number of products making a maternal health claim grew by 24% between 2020 and 2021 as the health and nutrition industry cottoned onto this sparsely catered-for area, and she says "there is still room for this to grow further".
She added that the EU maternal probiotic supplement market was valued at €26m in 2021 with an expected CAGR of 8.9% from 2022-2028.
As such, Fonterra concentrates on two patented strains LactoB HN019 and Bifido HN001, which have been found to provide benefits for digestive health, inflammation, allergy, infection, and woman and maternal health.
Mental health
A concerning 40% of mothers surveyed by IPSOS said they experienced depression and anxiety post pregnancy, while 38% said they experienced other mental health problems.
Groenenboom pointed out that treatments for post natal depression often lie within antidepressants and "that is not something you want to be taking during breastfeeding".
Thanks to the mechanism of the gut-brain-axis, probiotics are increasingly being studies for their benefits in cognitive health.
In a study of 423 women, randomised to receive either HN001 or placebo, mothers in the probiotic treatment group reported significantly lower depression scores (HN001 mean=7.7, placebo 9.0) and anxiety scores (HN001 12.0, placebo 13.0) than those in the placebo group. Rates of clinically relevant anxiety on screening were also significantly lower in the HN001 treated mothers.
Fungal infections
Another health issue that women can experience more frequently during pregnancy, is fungal infections, which are usually treated with antifungal creams but these aren't recommended during this life stage.
This is another area where probiotics have shown promise.
A placebo-controlled, randomised clinical trial involving 48 women assigned women to take either a mix of Lactobacillus acidophilus GLA-14 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001, in combination with bovine lactoferrin, or a placebo for up to six months. The researchers found women in the intervention group shopwed significant improvement in the symptoms of itching and discharge at three and six months, compared to the placebo group (33.3% vs 91.7% t 3 months and 29.2% vs 100% at 6 months)
Gestational diabetes
What's more, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) affected one in six births worldwide in 2019 (International Diabetes Federation) and it has a prevalence of 11% in Europe.
Research suggests LactoB HN001 may help reduce the risk of this condition due to its positive impact on glucose metabolism and reduced insulin resistance. Pregnant women took the probiotic or a placebo from second trimester until 6 month postpartum. Out of those, 373 were assed for GDM and it was found that the probiotic significantly reduced the risk of GDM (69%) in the mothers aged 35+. Even more impressive, in the group with a previous history of GDM, there was a 0% occurrence of the condition in the probiotic group, compared to a 88% occurrence in the placebo group.
Nutiani brand launched in Europe
Fonterra also introduced its newest wellbeing nutrition solutions brand, Nutiani, at FiE last week, as the firm looks to "support innovation pipelines and capture evolving health needs".
Nutiani products and concepts are tailored to meet the growing focus on holistic health and nutrition as revealed in the firm's recently commissioned consumer wellness research (IPSOS).
The research found that 89% of European consumers view health holistically, with physical, mental and inner wellbeing, cognitive performance, sleep and mood emerging as the top prioritised aspects of health.