Arla launches Lacprodan CGMP-30

Arla Foods Ingredients has launched a new CGMP (casein glycomacropeptide) ingredient with significantly reduced levels of phenylalanine. Lacprodan CGMP-30 is a unique way to address dietary challenges associated with phenylketonuria (PKU).

PKU is a metabolic disorder affecting around one in 24,000 newborns globally. It impairs the body’s ability to metabolise phenylalanine, an amino acid naturally abundant in dietary proteins. Without management, PKU causes phenylalanine to accumulate in the blood and brain, which can lead to severe intellectual disability, epilepsy and behavioural problems.

Traditionally, the standard treatment for PKU was a lifelong low-protein diet combined with life-necessary protein substitutes. Adherence to such dietary regimens is challenging, and issues around taste, palatability, and gastrointestinal discomfort are common.

An alternative emerged when Arla Foods Ingredients introduced Lacprodan CGMP-20 – a highly purified CGMP with very low levels of phenylalanine. Clinical research shows that the partial replacement of free amino acids with Lacprodan CGMP-20 in a protein substitute can provide important benefits compared to one based entirely on free amino acids. These include statistically significant improvements in gastrointestinal symptoms,2 and superior taste and palatability.

Now Arla Foods Ingredients has gone a major step further with the launch of Lacprodan CGMP-30. In addition to offering the same benefits as Lacprodan CGMP-20, it contains around 50% less phenylalanine, making it particularly suitable for the most phenylalanine-sensitive patients.

Mads Dyrvig, head of sales development, specialised nutrition, at Arla Foods Ingredients, said, “For many years, Lacprodan CGMP-20 has been helping patients with PKU, supporting compliance with their dietary regimens to help improve their quality of life. Our new Lacprodan CGMP-30 represents a major advance because it offers even lower phenylalanine content. As such, we anticipate that it will be a unique new solution for blood phenylalanine control, as well as improved gastrointestinal comfort, in the most phenylalanine-sensitive PKU patients. Its taste and palatability are also superior to solutions based on free amino acids, offering further benefits for quality of life.”

Lacprodan CGMP-30 and Lacprodan CGMP-20 are both safe and suitable protein sources for PKU managementand can be included in protein substitutes used for patients from the age of four according to European guidelines.3 Both are also rich in large neutral amino acids (LNAAs) such as threonine and isoleucine. LNAAs compete with phenylalanine at the blood-brain barrier, which helps to reduce its transport into the brain and thereby alleviate phenylalanine accumulation in the brain.

Lacprodan CGMP ingredients are ideal for use in a wide range of medical nutrition applications, including UHT drinks and powders. In addition to PKU, their naturally low tyrosine content makes them suitable protein sources for patients with other rare genetic amino acid disorders, such as tyrosinemia and alkaptonuria.