No soy please: Aussie firm looks to coconut, pea, rice for hypoallergenic plant-based infant formula
The Queensland-based company debuted its products – stage one to three coconut-based formulas – last month via e-commerce platforms in Australia.
Key ingredients used include coconut milk powder, pea protein, rice protein, fructo-oligosaccharides, algae powder, flaxseed oil, alongside vitamins and minerals.
The formulations were developed based research that looked promising plant-based ingredients for infant and toddler nutrition.
The goal is to provide options for infants and toddlers that are allergic to cow’s milk protein, are lactose intolerance, or have dietary restrictions.
Researchers, parents, chemists, and professors were involved in research and development process that spanned over eight to 10 years.
Although soy is a common candidate for plant-based formulas, cases of soy protein allergy has led the team into exploring different versions of rice and pea proteins, alongside coconut, instead.
According to Australia’s Victoria state government’s healthy eating advisory service, approximately 40 per cent of children allergic to cow’s milk are also allergic to soy drink.
“Through the analysis, we found that coconuts provide a nutritional profile that aligns with the dietary needs of infants, allowing the development of the formulation for supporting healthy growth,” Dr. Nicholas Bouchaia, general manager at Coco2 told NutraIngredients-Asia.
Coconut-based formulas, he pointed out, are easily digestible due to its high MCT and lauric acid content.
“One reason we use coconut milk powder is because it's high in MCT oils, which is easily digestible in the human body," said Dr. Bouchaia who has 27 years of experience in pharmaceutical, nutraceuticals, and foods. He also led the formulation of the coconut-based formulas.
Lauric acid is also found in human breast milk and has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial properties.
While palmitic acid is the most abundant saturated fatty acid in human milk, a Europe-based study funded by Nestle Research reported that lauric acid, caprylic acid, and myristic acid compositions have significantly increased between the first three days and 17 days of lactation.
“Lauric acid is also naturally present in coconuts, in coconut milk, cream, water. We are basically using lauric acid that is at a level that is either the same or higher than breastmilk.”
“Lauric acid is crucial for neurodevelopmental growth and can aid in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. It, along with other essential nutrients in Coco2, ensures that your baby receives the immune-boosting and energy-providing benefits essential for healthy development,” he said.
Pea and rice proteins, on the other hand, contains essential amino acids for growth and development.
“We found that these three ingredients that we are using have a hypoallergenic potential to help the children.”
Aside from the nutrition profile, the product development process also focused on palatability and texture of the products.
“We conducted extensive testing with families to refine the flavours, texture, and they gave us invaluable feedback to what they thought was needed to make sure the product was something that the kids would easily consume.”
This is especially because plant-based formulas could be chalky in texture or bitter in taste, and parents have feedbacked that coconut-based formulas have better flavour profiles due to its natural aroma.
Clinical trial and new product pipeline
A placebo-controlled trial involving 100 babies comparing coconut-based formulas and conventional cow’s milk is currently in progress.
The key objectives are to find out how they fare in terms of supporting the babies’ growth, including height, weight, and head circumference.
Dr. Bouchaia added that the company has been working on new product development to expand its range for next year. Some of these include coconut-based formulas for children aged four to 10.
