Expert seminar on lactoferrin and immunity held

Reporter Wang Wei

With the upgrading of consumption and the importance of Chinese people to health, immune nutrition will become a universal demand
.
On the occasion of World Booster Immunization Day, an expert seminar on lactoferrin and immunity hosted by the Chinese Society of Food Science and Technology and supported by Royal FrieslandCampina was held
online.
Experts and scholars from food, medicine, nutrition and other fields conducted in-depth discussions and exchanges
on the research of lactoferrin.
Chen Junshi, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and general counsel of the National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, Meng Suhe, honorary chairman of the Chinese Society of Food Science and Technology, Chen Wei, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Jiangnan University, Chen Ge, president of Royal FrieslandCampina China, and other guests delivered speeches, and experts and scholars from many universities and scientific research institutes attended the meeting
.
The meeting was chaired by Shao Wei, executive vice president of the Chinese Society of Food Science and Technology
.

The "2022 Lactoferrin and Immunity Expert Seminar" was held online

Consolidate the scientific foundation for the application of lactoferrin

In recent years, the research on the relationship between lactoferrin and immunity has continued to heat up, and its research field has gradually expanded from the first 1000 days of life to more people such as the elderly, and the relevant research results have promoted the rapid application of lactoferrin in the field of production technology, and the market scale has also expanded
.
According to data, due to the increasingly close connection between lactoferrin and infant nutrition, immune health, microbiome and skin health, the global lactoferrin market is expected to exceed 2 billion yuan
by 2027.
Lactoferrin is an iron-binding glycoprotein in transferrin, widely distributed in human and mammalian milk and other tissues and their secretions, especially in milk content is high, lactoferrin in human milk as an important active nutrient for infants and young children, but also can improve the immunity of infants and young children, in the nutritional structure of infants and young children has important significance
。 In 2022, the "Chinese Expert Consensus on the Clinical Application of Lactoferrin" was officially released, through detailed data, it was clarified that lactoferrin can reduce the risk of sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants, reduce the incidence of respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases in infants and children, improve the anemia status of infants, children and pregnant women, and improve the eradication rate of Helicobacter pylori in children and adults
.

Chen Junshi, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and general counsel of the National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, said in his speech that for those infants and young children who are not eligible for breastfeeding or exclusive breastfeeding, it is necessary to provide them with infant formula that is as close to breast milk as possible
.
As a new food ingredient, lactoferrin is used in infant formula, which has a variety of health benefits and also helps to promote the development of
the infant formula industry.
Chen Junshi said that the infant milk powder industry has gone through a long development process, and the food ingredients added to the product have gone from the initial DHA, EPA, to probiotics, prebiotics, and lactoferrin and in recent years, HMO (human milk oligosaccharides)
has not yet been released in China.
It is foreseeable that more and more new food ingredients will be used in infant formula in the future, bringing the product closer to breast milk
.
In this regard, enterprises and universities need to cooperate more and develop in research and development
.

Meng Suhe, honorary chairman of the Chinese Society of Food Science and Technology, put forward important suggestions
for the development of the dairy industry from the perspective of scientific and technological innovation in his speech.
She said that China's food industry has experienced ups and downs in the three years of the epidemic, but the dairy industry has grown
against the trend due to its own health attributes and excellent quality.
In 2021, the entire food industry was below the average level of China's industrial economy, but the dairy industry was higher than the average
level of China's industrial economy.
This shows that dairy products are still the first choice for people to improve their own immunity under the epidemic, and there is huge
room for development.
Meng Suhe analyzed that at present, China's economic development is facing the triple pressure
of demand contraction, supply shock, and expected weakening.
Under pressure, the food industry is undergoing unprecedented fission
.
One of the biggest changes is that enterprises, especially leading companies, are accelerating the cultivation of their core competitiveness and improving their R&D capabilities
.
On the whole, the dairy industry is the entire food industry, and the investment in scientific research is in the forefront of the food industry as a whole
.
She said that from the Chinese Food Science and Technology Society's combing of the innovation achievements of dairy enterprises in the past two years, it can also be seen that the overall level of dairy research and development is rapidly improving, which is mainly reflected in three directions: First, the amount of data for the construction of breast milk database has increased, and regional differences have become prominent
.
The second is to strengthen the support of its own product strength and the deep intersection
of life science and clinical medicine through clinical verification.
The third is to broaden the track of various enterprises, from a single category of infant milk powder to functional adult milk powder, brain nourishing and fitness adolescent and children's milk powder, and elderly milk powder and cheese to improve immunity
.
Turning drinking milk into eating, extending the drinking of milk powder for different ages to the entire life cycle
.
Meng Suhe reminded that at the same time, we must also see that to improve self-protection and improve self-immunity, the scientific consensus of lifelong milk drinking is gradually forming
.
She suggested that it is very important
to consolidate the scientific foundation of lactoferrin application, deepen the mechanism research on the active function of lactoferrin, explore the impact of processing technology on its activity, share the results of clinical nutrition, and strengthen the "Chinese-style" data accumulation of the correlation of lactoferrin to human immunity function.

Chen Wei, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Jiangnan University, said in his speech that "strong immunity is the best medicine against the new crown virus"
.
As a natural protein with a variety of physiological activities, lactoferrin plays an important role
in regulating intestinal function, promoting iron absorption, antibacterial, antiviral, immune enhancement and antioxidant.
Especially in the situation of normalization of epidemic prevention and control, improving human immunity by supplementing lactoferrin has also become an important part of
scientific defense.

Chen Wei said that lactoferrin, as an additive nutrient that can improve immune function, is increasingly used in infants, pregnant women and the elderly
.
Over the years, Jiangnan University has always been committed to the research and development and application of cutting-edge leading technologies in the food industry, including jointly carrying out research on key technologies and disruptive technologies in the industry with many large dairy enterprises at home and abroad, and continuously meeting the public's demand
for healthy foods that improve immunity.
This seminar gathered experts and scholars in the fields of food, medicine, nutrition and other fields to conduct in-depth discussions on lactoferrin and immunity, and to transfer the scientific knowledge of lactoferrin and immunity, which is of great significance
for promoting the "Healthy China" strategy.

Chen Ge, President of Royal FrieslandCampina China, said in his speech that as a dairy company with a history of more than 150 years, FrieslandCampina takes natural nourishment as its mission, uses science and technology to decode the nutrition in cow's milk, and provides global consumers with full life cycle nutrition
.
As one of the world's earliest lactoferrin producers, FrieslandCampina has 75 years of expertise in early life nutrition and has strong strength
in nutrient research.
FrieslandCampina has been entering the Chinese market for more than 10 years, committed to serving the nutrition and health needs of the whole population in China, and has been working with industry associations, experts and scholars to carry out a series of dairy science popularization work for a long time to help improve people's health literacy
.
Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in 2019, the public's attention to how to improve the immunity of infants and young children has continued to increase
.
From 2020 to 2022, the China Dairy Merchants Index report released for three consecutive years showed that about 1/3 of respondents believed that lactoferrin ability could help improve immunity
.
At the same time, the scientific and clinical research of lactoferrin at home and abroad is gradually deepening
.
Chen Ge hopes that on the scientific research exchange platform of the Lactoferrin and Immunity Expert Seminar, he looks forward to scientific voices from multiple fields, so that more new achievements can be widely applied, and at the same time, it can help the public establish scientific understanding
of lactoferrin to enhance immunity.

The nutritional value of lactoferrin will be gradually released

At this seminar, experts and scholars from food, medicine, nutrition and other fields conducted in-depth exchanges and discussions
on the research on the active functional mechanism of lactoferrin.

Professor Shi Hanping, Director of the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery and Director of the Department of Clinical Nutrition of Shijitan Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, introduced the multifaceted harm brought by malnutrition to the body and the impact on society, and called for a new understanding of malnutrition
.
Shi Hanping pointed out that malnutrition is a syndrome of multiple organ system insufficiency, and its phenotype involves all organs and systems of the body, and even affects the physiological and psychological levels
.
The dangers of malnutrition are manifold, not just weight loss
.
It is not only a medical and economic problem, but also a serious social problem
.
According to data released by the United Nations in 2019, the number of cases of malnutrition was 821 million, increasing for three consecutive years since 2015, accounting for 11%
of the total population.

"Malnutrition is serious, not mild, in our country; Hospitals are the places with the highest rates of malnutrition, not the
lowest.
Studies have shown that hospitalized patients have the highest incidence of malnutrition
.
Shi Hanping said that without nutrition, treatment becomes a source of water
.
Nutritional therapy is the best basic means to realize medical value and the best embodiment
of the essence of medical treatment.
The value of nutritional therapy is to provide body repair substances, enhance immune function, and save medical costs
.

Professor Jiang Yujun, Dean of the College of Food Science, Northeast Agricultural University, who has been engaged in dairy research for many years, introduced the development and preparation of lactoferrin and its application in infant milk powder
.
In his opinion, the continuous expansion of the application field of lactoferrin has promoted the rapid development
of the market.
Lactoferrin is increasingly being used in
foods such as baby food, food supplements, nutritional foods, alcoholic beverages and sports nutrition foods.
From the current domestic market, the infant formula market dominates the lactoferrin market
.
Among domestic infant formula manufacturers, nearly 600 formula varieties have lactoferrin
added.
At present, lactoferrin raw materials are still dependent on imports
.
In May this year, the first lactoferrin automatic production line in China's dairy industry officially obtained the production license and put into operation, realizing the localization of key raw and auxiliary materials
.

Jiang Yujun said that in China, lactoferrin-related regulations are also constantly improving, in which the field and dosage of lactoferrin application are clearly stipulated
.
The National Food Safety Standard for the Use of Food Nutritional Enhancers (GB 14880-2012) includes lactoferrin, identifies it as a food nutritional enhancer, and stipulates the scope and amount of
lactoferrin.
For example, in infant formula, the maximum amount of lactoferrin used is 1 g/L (in the ready-to-eat state, the powder product is increased by the preparation multiple).

The National Food Safety Standard Food Nutrition Fortifier Lactoferrin implemented in 2017 requires the purity of lactoferrin to reach 95%.

Jiang Yujun compared the traditional and emerging lactoferrin production processes
.
The main product produced by traditional production processes is casein, and other milk proteins are by-products
.
Low pH precipitation and long processing time caused whey protein degradation and inactivation, and the activity and purity of lactoferrin were restricted.
The main product produced by the emerging lactoferrin extraction process is lactoferrin, and the prepared lactoferrin has good activity and high
purity.
Raw milk can still be used in the production of other products without other physical and chemical treatments, which can be comprehensively utilized and suitable for the production
of high value-added products such as infant formula with high purity and activity requirements.
Jiang Yujun believes that with the deepening of the research on the nutritional characteristics of lactoferrin, its nutritional value will be gradually released, and there is still sufficient room for growth of lactoferrin in China in the future, and the market development prospects are broad, and the potential of the consumer market for people over 3 years old needs to be fully tapped
.

Carry out in-depth basic research on lactoferrin

Yang Qinbing, Director of the Department of Clinical Nutrition, Beijing Tsinghua Chang Gung Hospital, Tsinghua University, introduced the clinical application of
lactoferrin.
Yang Qinbing said that lactoferrin, as a high-quality natural protein with a variety of physiological activities, has a wide range of clinical applications, in addition to infants and young children, it can also be used in pregnant women and other people
.
He introduced pregnant women as an example
.
Yang Qinbing said that the incidence of anemia in pregnant women is high, and through the clinical application of lactoferrin in this group, it has been found that compared with the treatment of ferrous sulfate, the hemoglobin of the lactoferrin group given oral lactoferrin 200-250 mg per day is significantly improved, especially the hemoglobin in patients with moderate anemia is more significant
.
It is worth noting that in clinical applications, lactoferrin has a lower
incidence of gastrointestinal reactions.

Chen Tongxin, director of the Department of Allergy and Immunology of Shanghai Children's Medical Center affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, said that lactoferrin in breast milk can support intestinal health, bacteriostatic and immunomodulatory effects through multiple mechanisms, and studies have shown that lactoferrin intake in early life can produce multiple clinical benefits
.
Among the active proteins in breast milk, the effect of lactoferrin on human immunity is very important, it can directly participate in the immune response, promote intestinal development, and improve the intestinal mucosal barrier
.
The lactoferrin content in human milk is much higher than the lactoferrin content in other animals, and the amount of lactoferrin contained in it will change correspondingly with different periods of time in the baby, with the highest
content in colostrum.
He introduced that the lactoferrin in cow's milk is added to the formula through a new technology, because lactoferrin is homologous, so the lactoferrin added to the formula can also play the same role
.

Yang Zhenyu, a researcher at the Institute of Nutrition and Health of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that since 2000, international research on lactoferrin has shown an upward trend
.
In contrast, China and the United States are currently the countries
with the most lactoferrin publications.
Clinical trials have shown that bovine lactoferrin-fortified infant formula can improve the iron status
of infants.
It is worth reminding that lactoferrin content, differences between different species, processing, digestion and absorption, etc.
, may affect lactoferrin function
.
He pointed out that there are not many population studies on lactoferrin, especially for other immunomodulation, anti-tumor and neurodevelopment, and hope to carry out more studies to explore
it in the future.

Li Zailing, chief physician of pediatrics at Peking University Third Hospital, introduced the role of
lactoferrin in premature infants, neonatal feeding and nutrition for older children.
Li Zailing said that the concentration of lactoferrin in human colostrum is very high, and the concentration in breast milk, tears, saliva and amniotic fluid is relatively low
.
Meta-studies have evaluated the safety and efficacy
of lactoferrin supplementation in enteral nutrition for the prevention of preterm birth, neonatal sepsis, and NEC.
Other meta-studies have shown that enteral lactoferrin supplementation is strongly associated with a reduction in very low birth weight infants and late-onset sepsis
.
There are also studies that show that lactoferrin, as a nutrient received by the mother during lactation, may attract more attention
in the clinical field of neonatal brain neuroprotection in the future.
She hopes to carry out more related studies in clinical applications in the future, in order to see better application prospects
of lactoferrin in immunity.

Lina Zhang, associate professor of the State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, introduced
the role of glycosylation modification in lactoferrin's bacteriostatic and immunoactive properties.
She said that lactoferrin is a class of highly glycosylated proteins, and glycosylation modifications play an important role
in the bacteriostatic properties of lactoferrin.
The glycosylation modification of lactoferrin will change with lactation, but from the current point of view, the research on lactoferrin glycosylation modification with lactation is not in-depth, and the reported glycoform is relatively single and simple, the research group is carrying out relevant research, and more than 1000 different glycan-modified peptides have been identified
.
In addition, comparing the bacteriostatic properties of different species of lactoferrin, it can be seen that lactoferrin in camel milk and sheep milk has the best
bacteriostatic properties.
There are differences in the bacteriostatic properties of lactoferrin between different species, which are related to protein sequence on the one hand, and iron saturation on the other hand
.

The seminar focused on the theme of "lactoferrin and immunity", which aroused great attention
from the scientific and technological circles and the industry.
By the end of the conference, the seminar had received 2.
942 million views across all media
.

Preliminary review: Li Song Responsible editor: Xiao Zhihan Review: Ouyang Meihua