How Fonterra helps athletes stay on top of their mental health game

Fonterra has been formulating products with athletes in mind. Photo / Supplied by Fonterra

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Athletes’ mental health has been in the international spotlight recently and Fonterra is developing ways to help Kiwi sportsmen and women to put their own wellbeing first.

In the past few years, high-profile athletes, such as American gymnast Simone Biles, and previous no.1 seed women’s tennis player, Naomi Osaka, have withdrawn from global sporting events, prioritising their mental health over competition.

The co-op had an extensive history of protein innovation and often created products with athletes in mind, Managing Director of Fonterra’s Europe region, Mike Bones said.

“We actually commissioned some research in New Zealand with New Zealand athletes, to understand how we might be able to help them,” Bones told The Country Sport Breakfast’s, Brian Kelly.

Fonterra’s Nutiani protein and phospholipid powder ranked the highest, with 58 per cent of athletes who tested it, over a period of 30 days, noticing an improvement in their mental wellbeing, he said.

Nutiani is Fonterra’s new business-to-business brand, launched last year to help the co-op target the multi-billion dollar health and wellness market.

It was great to see the brand in action, Bones said.

“It’s really exciting for us to understand how we can bring dairy to life.”

Fonterra also expected products like Nutiani to have broader consumer appeal, especially with Gen Z consumers viewing health as happiness, rather than longevity.

The co-op had a chance to showcase Nutiani last week at the largest nutraceutical event in the world - Vitafoods - in Geneva, Switzerland.

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Here, Fonterra promoted its speciality ingredients; phospholipids, probiotics and lactoferrin, Bones said.

“They are high-value products that really have strong clinical evidence backing up their claimed health benefits [in] stress management, digestive health, and immunity.”

At Vitafoods brands were proactively searching for new product ideas - despite cost pressures - and customers were really interested in the co-op’s range of next-generation sports nutrition.

These products are formulated with athletes in mind, using protein powder as a base for muscle recovery, and adding Nutiani phospholipids to support mental wellbeing.

“Customers were really interested in looking for new product ideas and Nutiani, as a brand, is about helping those customers create the ideas, using our ingredients for their brand that they then bring to market,” Bones said.

“It’s a great way to [connect] with those customers and it’s exciting to see them develop over time.”

Bones said Vitafoods was a rewarding experience for Fonterra.

“It was a very busy show, we had a lot of regular, consistent customers coming through and a lot of new leads, which was really exciting for us.”

Also in today’s interview: Bones talked about customers’ interest in sustainability at Vitafoods.