Nutritional composition for supporting brain development and function of toddlers

Nutritional Composition for Children of 1-2 Years According to the Invention

[0133]A powdered milk for toddlers of 1 to 3 years is produced by preparing a slurry of ingredients, in particular skimmed milk, whole milk, maltodextrin, sugar, vegetable oil, flavouring ingredients, an emulsifier, a vitamin mix and phospholipids rich in DHA. The slurry is subjected to heating for evaporation and then transformed to a powder by spray-drying.

[0134]The final composition of the nutrients of the growing up milk per 100 grams of dry matter is provided in Table 14 below.

[0135]The composition of Table 14 contains about 450 kcal per 100 g dry matter.

[0136]Thereafter, two different probiotic microorganisms, Bifidobacterium longum (ATCC BAA-999) and Lactobacillus rhamnosus (ATCC 54193) in powdered form are added so as to each provide at least 1×106 CFU per gram of nutritional composition.

TABLE 14Nutrients of the nutritional composition for children of 1-2 yearsWeight per 100 gNutrientUnityof dry matterF

Nutritional Composition for Children of 3-5 Years According to the Invention

[0137]A powdered milk for children of 3 to 5 years is produced by preparing a slurry of ingredients, in particular skimmed milk, whole milk, maltodextrin, sugar, vegetable oil, flavouring ingredients, an emulsifier, a vitamin mix and phospholipids rich in DHA. The slurry is subjected to heating for evaporation and then transformed to a powder by spray-drying.

[0138]The final composition of the nutrients of the growing up milk per 100 grams of dry matter is provided in Table 15 below.

[0139]The composition of Table 15 contains about 450 kcal per 100 g dry matter.

[0140]Thereafter, two different probiotic microorganisms, Bifidobacterium longum (ATCC BAA-999) and Lactobacillus rhamnosus (ATCC 54193) in powdered form are added so as to each provide at least 1×106 CFU.

TABLE 15Nutrients of the nutritional composition for children of 3-5 yearsWeight per 100 g ofNutrientUnitydry matterFatg19.80Milk fatg4.39Non-milk Fatg14

Clinical Studies for Assessing Mental and Cognitive Performance of Children of 1.5 to about 2.5 Years of Age

[0141]In a clinical study, the cognitive, language, motor, adaptive behaviour and social-emotional skills of children are to be assessed.

[0142]For the study, a randomized, controlled, double blind, multi centre design with two parallel groups is used. A total of 400 healthy children of the age of 16 to 18 months of both sexes are recruited. The toddlers are split in two groups. One group (n=200) receives the growing up milk as detailed in Example 1, the other group is the control group and receives milk powder. Both groups take up food, in particular food as usual. The children will receive the nutritional composition of the invention milk at 2 serving sizes per day. One serving size is obtained by mixing 36 g of powder with 200 ml water. The children of the control group receive an equivalent amount of the control powder. Duration of subject participation is 12 month.

[0143]Growt