New Fonterra research aimed at mothers, babies and elderly

Fonterra is turning to science - not for the first time - to underline the benefits of its dairy products, which might lead to new products targeting mothers, babies and older people.

Less than two years after it wrapped up LactoPharma, its eight-year, joint-venture research programme, Fonterra has appointed University of Auckland Professor Sally Poppitt as the Fonterra chair in human nutrition.

The appointment is part of Fonterra's investment in the $170 million Primary Growth Partnership - a government-led, production-boosting research programme.

It follows the February 2011 appointment of Dr Peter Munro as Massey University's Fonterra chair in food material science.

Prof Poppitt has worked directly with Fonterra in the past and was part of the LactoPharma consortium. She heads the University of Auckland's human nutrition unit, which conducts diet and health trials.

Her first job is to ensure her research is closely aligned with the dairy giant's "strategy refresh", announced in March, which concentrates on lifting volume and value growth, especially into emerging countries.

Already Fonterra markets its Anlene "bone health" products to fight osteoporosis and its Anmum range targets pregnant women, nursing mothers and babies.

Prof Poppitt flags further developments in these areas, which will come out of her research team and collaborations with overseas research centres.

"At the moment, we're working on better understanding what the new strategies may be for Fonterra and nutrition - quite likely to be around young children, quite likely to be around older individuals.

She continues: "There may be new brands of dairy that come onto the market. There may be new either ingredients or nutrients within dairy that we're able to identify that may have particular strengths."

Supporting Fonterra's hypotheses

She specifically mentions looking at dairy products for weight and appetite control, as well as the possibility it can be used to prevent some metabolic complications which lead to conditions like type-two diabetes.

The research will include some longer-term studies, she says.

The new chair appointment, which started on May 3, will involve more than half her time, but she will still undertake other research and continue to lecture.

Asked how she can escape being tagged as a dairy apologist when she is funded by a large corporate, she replies that all universities have strong industry links these days.

"It's not intended that you generate science that is not robust, it's simply working with those industries to develop rigorous science that can help to support their hypotheses if they have nutrition-directed or functional food-directed types of interests."

Vice-chancellor Professor Stuart McCutcheon welcomed the appointment. In a statement he says: "The University of Auckland is committed to an extensive platform of food and nutrition research."

Fonterra's general manager of dairy primary growth partnership, Dr Arie Geursen, says Prof Poppitt has a long-standing involvement in dairy nutrition "for health and wellness".