Nestlé drives product reformulation based on nutrient density

The concept of nutrient density refers to measuring the concentration of essential, beneficial nutrients such as vitamins, proteins, minerals and the like that are found in a food product relative to its caloric energy content. So while it is easy for consumers to access foods to fulfil basic caloric and energy needs, diets that are nutrient-rich require a great deal more attention to the types of included foods. “Nestle is aware that food companies play a very important role in ensuring consumers have access to nutrient-dense diets, and we believe that there are three major ways in which to do this,” Nestle Global R&D Lead Cocoa Malt Beverages Youyun Liang told the floor at our Growth Asia Summit 2025 in Singapore. “These are: Reformulation to improve the nutritional value of existing foods, applying New Technologies to add nutritional benefits, and beyond individual foods also providing Meal Guidance to promote balanced diets.” Reformulation, especially in terms of sugar reduction, has been strongly driven by health awareness and regulatory requirements in many APAC markets, but Nestle has developed its own Nutritional Profiling System to conduct better reformulation of its products. “Nestle uses this system to rank foods according to their nutritional value based on public health recommendations and consumer science, and set reformulation targets accordingly,” she added. “It is very important to consider the role of the product in a consumer’s diet, the nutrient thresholds, and the dietary requirements of the relevant target consumer group for that nutrient.” In addition, there also needs to be a component of localisation in all reformulation efforts to accommodate local dietary habits as well as regulatory guidelines. “Localising reformulation targets will ensure that we can better address local needs and develop products which are specific for specific markets in order to meet the gaps in that particular market,” Liang said. “We have seen some examples of this: When looking at tapping milk to improve local nutrition for children, we found that in the Philippines it was better to add a daily serving of fortified milk whereas in Brazil it was better to substitute a daily serving of milk with a fortified version.” Identifying what to reformulate is only the first step in developing nutrient dense products – the next, critical step is to integrate these targets into actual product development. “The development of solutions to accommodate reformulation targets is where new technologies play the most important role,” she added. “It is only with technology that we can do things such as converting sugars to prebiotic fibres that can boost the growth of beneficial gut bacteria to improve gut health; or to identify and better utilise high-quality proteins.” High-quality proteins in this case refers to proteins with a high Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS), which determines the quality of a protein based on its essential amino acid composition and its digestibility. “Based on better understanding of market gaps and needs, as well as accessibility to new technologies, we are able to identify the best possible combinations of ingredients to make the most relevant nutrient dense products for consumers in that market,” she said.

Nestlé drives product reformulation based on nutrient density

Nestlé has revealed a focus on nutrient density in its reformulation efforts to meet market-specific food product demands

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