New Zealand's biggest company, the dairy foods processor Fonterra, is backing a medical consortium to develop milk-based "bioactives", in the aim of gaining a share in the global functional foods market, reported the New Zealand Herald this week.
The company has teamed up with the Auckland and Otago Medical Schools to form a multimillion-dollar consortium which will develop the milk-based products marketed to strengthen the body's immune system and prevent osteoporosis.
Fonterra proposes to invest $2 million in the consortium and may put a further $1.5 million into a new spinoff company which will also seek outside venture capital.
The consortium is also seeking a further $3.2 million from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology under a new foundation policy which aims to fund at least three joint public/private research consortiums this year.
However, with five other proposals received by the foundation this year, backing is not guaranteed. The foundation's decisions are due to be announced on 30 May.
Dr David Johns, development manager of Fonterra food ingredients' subsidiary NZMP, said the total investment by the company and the foundation could be $35 million over the next seven years.
"We are also trying to attract venture capital as well as Fonterra money, so they [research companies] will be separate little units to actually do their job," he said.
Dr Tony McKenna of the Fonterra Research Centre, formerly the Dairy Research Institute, said research would focus initially on the components of milk which feed bone growth and the immune system.
"Although they are designed for the young mammal, the mechanisms may be important at any stage of life," he said.
He added that dairy researchers had been working for some time with Auckland University's bone research group led by Associate Professor Jill Cornish and Professor Ian Reid.
The group is a leading research centre on osteoporosis, which affects more than half of New Zealand women and nearly a third of men over the age of 60.
"There are some products that are showing some promise in terms of bone growth, but there is nothing with FDA approval that increases bone mass in the elderly. So the consortium is looking for opportunities to fill that gap, and milk is a good starting point," said McKenna.
Researchers have also been working on bacteria in products such as yoghurts that stimulate the body's immune system to fight dangerous microbes causing problems such as diarrhoea and bowel cancer.
McKenna also noted that research into components that might interrupt asthma is currently underway at Auckland University.