The offering aims to support the establishment of a microbiome closer to that of breastfed infants, the development of the immune system, the gut microbiome and optimal developmental trajectories—narrowing the gap in outcomes between breastfed and non-breastfed infants.
"Our partnership with Lallemand Health Solutions represents a significant milestone in the early-life nutrition market," said James Young, vice president of early life nutrition at dsm-firmenich. "By leveraging our deep understanding of HMOs and Lallemand’s world-class probiotics, we are poised to set a new standard for synbiotics in infant nutrition."
Isabelle Champié, vice president of sales and marketing at Lallemand Health Solutions, added: "Our Expert’Biotic probiotic baby strains have been clinically documented on more than 1,600 infants, with proven safety and efficacy.”
Combining them with dsm-firmenich’s HMOs, she explained, has created solutions that can establish strong foundations for infant health by supporting the development of their microbiome during the critical early-life period.
HMOs and probiotics
The most important changes in the gut microbiome occur during the first year of life. During this timeframe, probiotics contribute to the infant microbiome and help build the foundation for healthy growth and development.
A well-balanced microbiome composition and development during infancy is associated with various health benefits, such as improved gut barrier function against opportunistic microorganisms, proper development of the baby’s immune system and normal functioning of the gut-brain axis and its influence on the developing brain.
HMOs, the third largest solid component of breast milk, act as prebiotic agents that promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the infant's gut and support the development of a healthy microbiota and immune system.
Research has shown that specific HMOs can selectively promote the growth of specific probiotic strains and enhance the production of metabolites of interest in the range of gut health, natural defenses, cognition, growth and development.
“When HMOs are combined with probiotics, novel synergistic synbiotic solutions emerge which enhance the benefits of each individual component,” Champié said.
By combining HMOs with probiotics that use HMOs as their substrate, dsm-firmenich and Lallemand Health Solutions have developed combinations that demonstrate unique synergies fostering infant health and optimum development.
The rise of synbiotics
The biotics market is seeing an increase in synbiotic solutions, Ewa Hudson, director of insights at Lumina Intelligence, recently told NutraIngredients, thanks to the recognition that combination biotics can improve probiotic survival rate and viability in the gastrointestinal tract.
According to Lumina Intelligence data, synbiotics are now responsible for 38% of biotic SKUs in Europe and overtook (pure) probiotic supplements in online engagement in the first half of 2023. The global synbiotic products market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 7.5% between 2023 and 2030.