Benchmarking against the golden ratio of breast milk, this enterprise has refreshed the new standard for infant and toddler brain nutrition.

"There are three main factors that affect brain development: genetics, environment, and nutrition. Genetics refers to genes, which are difficult to change. The environment includes parental companionship, educational methods, etc., and has a higher degree of postnatal intervenability. As a dairy enterprise, Feihe conducts brain development research, and the first thing we focus on is nutrition. Through nutritional support, we ensure that children's brain development is healthier."

On October 22, at the first Tan Jiazhen Foundation - China Feihe Global Brain Development Science Summit, Jiang Shilong, the chief scientist of China Feihe, explained. Just as he said, every parent hopes that their children can be smart and healthy.

According to the definition of the World Health Organization, the first 1,000 days of early life is the "opportunity window" for individual growth and intellectual development. The "National Nutrition Plan (2017 - 2030)" issued by the General Office of the State Council also focuses on the "Nutrition and Health Action for the First 1,000 Days of Life", elevating the nutritional attention in the early stage of life to a national policy.

Then, what kind of nutritional supplements should be given to the infant's brain? What kind of nutritional components and combinations are truly important for brain development?

Benchmarking the Gold Standard of Breast Milk

For the current post-90s and even post-00s parents, scientific feeding has been increasingly valued.

As early as 2008, the globally renowned "Copenhagen Consensus" proposed that improving early life nutrition is one of the best investment methods for global health development.

However, in different periods of a child's growth, brain development also goes through different stages. In the fetal stage, the brain's audio-visual functions are established; in the neonatal period, language functions explode; when a child grows to 3 years old, the first leap in intelligence is achieved. This also means that in different stages of brain function development, parents need to establish a more comprehensive understanding and provide more scientific and precise nutritional supplements for their children.

At this summit, Feihe, in conjunction with the China Association for Better Births and Raising of Children and Life Times, released the first "White Paper on Brain Development of Chinese Children" (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper"). Through scientific data questionnaires and survey sampling, it provides insights into Chinese parents' cognition and misunderstandings of early brain development, and provides scientific guidance and support for the healthy and intelligent growth of infants and young children.

The "White Paper" shows that nearly 70% of the respondents agree that there is a golden period for brain development, but they need scientific guidance on how to scientifically supplement nutrition and targeted nutritional products. At the same time, it is particularly important to note that respondents in the preconception and pregnancy periods obviously do not pay enough attention to the brain development of early infants and young children, and also neglect the nutritional supplementation of "expectant mothers" during pregnancy.

Jiang Shilong believes that the birth of a newborn is not a zero starting point. The first 1,000 days of early life begins during pregnancy and also requires adequate nutritional supplementation and rich external stimuli. In his view, breast milk is always an important nutritional source beneficial to children's brain development. Feihe's brain nutrition research is also based on in-depth research on the components of breast milk.

In 2022, Feihe, together with scientific research institutions such as Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Peking University Health Science Center, launched a special project of the National Key R & D Program during the 14th Five-Year Plan period - "Research and Demonstration of a New Generation of Infant Formula Milk Powder Manufacturing Technology Based on Breast Milk Research".

Jiang Shilong introduced that the first task of this project is to establish a 3,000-case mother-infant cohort in 12 provinces across the country to collect breast milk at different periods and stages. The second task is to study how these breast milk components change, the factors that affect breast milk components, and how the changes in breast milk components affect the growth and development of children.

After more than ten years of continuous scientific research investment, Feihe has found the beneficial components for brain development in breast milk. Among them, Feihe focuses on components such as "protein, phospholipids, human milk oligosaccharides, DHA, and ARA". And Feihe and Peking University Health Science Center also found that the ratio of DHA/ARA in breast milk is 1:1.7. While the ratio of DHA/ARA in European breast milk is 1:1.9, and that in American breast milk is 1:3.5.

Mismatched Market Demand

Although the important components for brain development in breast milk have been identified, from the survey of the "White Paper", prospective parents still lack a correct understanding of product selection.

For example, from the current parenting environment, during the pregnancy of expectant mothers, the supplementation of folic acid has received widespread attention. However, at present, most products on the market are synthetic folic acid. If consumed in large quantities for a long time, it will instead increase the risk of autism or other neurological development diseases in children after birth.

Another example is that choline plays an important role in the baby's brain nerve and brain development. However, due to dietary habits and other reasons, Chinese pregnant women generally lack choline. In addition, nutrients such as DHA, sialic acid, probiotics, iron, zinc, and vitamins also play an important role in the fetal brain development.

But the "White Paper" shows that only 9.7% of the respondents paid attention to the supplementation of such nutrients. This also means that although more and more parents are particularly anxious about their children's brain development, they do not know which nutritional elements should be focused on and how to choose targeted and differently formulated product solutions according to the different growth periods of their children.

All these make the product supply on the market unable to meet the real needs of consumers.

Image source: "White Paper on Brain Development of Chinese Children"

It is worth noting that Feihe's current research on brain science has not only stayed in the laboratory and academic papers. At the meeting that day, Feihe also released the results of transformation based on multiple studies.

For the beginning of the first 1,000 days of early life, which is also a pregnancy period that people are more likely to ignore, Feihe has launched a nutritional product for pregnant women that promotes fetal neural development - Xingyunyang Pregnant Women's Essence Nutrition Set (also known as Xingyunyang Yunzhi Small G Bottle). This product focuses on the 280 days of pregnancy and contains six core nutrients such as HMOs, active folic acid, DHA, and sialic acid, which can fully meet the needs of the fetal brain development.

For the brain development of infants after birth, Feihe has launched the first customized brain nutrition formula - Xingfeifan Zhuorui, which adds 5 kinds of cephalins, and the ratio of DHA and ARA also reaches 1:1.7, which is closer to breast milk. In addition, this product also adds lutein and choline that are beneficial to eye and brain development, which can promote the language and cognitive development of babies.

After entering 2024, Feihe, as the first author, published the results of the "Clinical Study of Intellectual Infant Formula Milk Powder" in the international journal "Frontiers in Nutrition".

The study shows that feeding infants with infant formula milk powder containing 5 kinds of cephalins and a DHA and ARA ratio of 1:1.7 can make their neurodevelopmental performance in the first year of early life better, with higher average scores in cognition, language, and motor skills, and the concentration time is 12% higher than the control group.

The "Nutrition Science Officer" for the Entire Life Cycle

The generally accepted view in the industry is that brain science will be the future trend and a new track for China to catch up and surpass in the next step.

Driven by strong policy support and technology, research projects on brain science are also constantly unfolding. The Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, etc., have also funded a series of brain science research projects.

At this meeting, Lu Lin, a major participant in the "China Brain Project", an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the president of the Sixth Hospital of Peking University, also pointed out, "Brain health is an important foundation for social well-being and also the basis for each of our individuals to grow, become adults, and achieve success. We need social forces, including the passionate Tan Jiazhen Foundation and enterprises like China Feihe Dairy to invest resources and conduct scientific research."

As the world's number one milk powder brand, Feihe is also constantly expanding the boundaries of cooperation with external institutions.

Jiang Shilong, the chief scientist of China Feihe

In recent years, Feihe has successively collaborated with scientific research institutions such as Peking University Health Science Center, Jiangnan University, and Boston Children's Hospital of Harvard Medical School. Based on Feihe's "Brain Development Strategy" layout, it conducts research on early life brain development and brain nutrition.

Up to now, Feihe has published 9 high-level papers in authoritative domestic and foreign journals, published 1 professional book, laid out 20 patents for brain development nutrition combinations, and carried out 3 clinical feeding experiments.

In Jiang Shilong's plan, in the future, Feihe will build a global R & D platform covering multiple countries and regions in Asia, America, and Europe. Through international cooperation, it will accelerate resource sharing and technological innovation to launch more high-quality brain nutrition products.

It is particularly worth mentioning that Feihe's research in the field of "brain health" has expanded to the entire life cycle. It is reported that Feihe will work with Capital Medical University to carry out a series of clinical studies on "Health and Disease Prevention in Middle-aged and Elderly People" around the adult functional nutrition brand "Aiben", and at the same time accelerate the transformation of functional nutrition products.

It is certain that the current Feihe is no longer just a safe ration that is "more suitable for the constitution of Chinese babies". This national enterprise from Heilongjiang has gone international. In the field of brain nutrition research and early brain science, Feihe has also set a scientific research benchmark and become a "Nutrition Science and Technology Officer" exploring the health and longevity of people of all ages, leading the progress of the Chinese dairy industry.