Nutrition & Physiology

All Danone's nutritional thinking rests on its capacity to associate science with pleasure. The task of
the Nutrition Research teams is to apply the general rules of healthy nutrition to our products, which requires a multidisciplinary approach:

- In-depth knowledge of the physiological functions of the human body (digestion, bone development, immune defences, cardiovascular system, mental performance, etc) and of the influence of food on them.

- Nutritional epidemiologic research to identify the specific nutritional needs of given populations,
in order, while understanding and taking into consideration local food sociology aspects (believes, food habits…). This enables us to develop products which are adapted to these needs and help to fight local/regional forms of dietary deficiencies and excesses.

- Continual improvement of the nutritional quality by creating guidelines in terms of macronutrients (sugar, fat…) and micro-nutrients (minerals, vitamins, salt) for each product.

- Development of products with specific and targeted effects to help build people’s health capital, optimise their organ functions at different key moments of life, and improve their quality of life.

- Services offering, such as educational & coaching programs, to help individuals improve their eating habits and lifestyle.

Starting with the the World Health Organization’s recommendations on diet, the Danone Research Nutrition Department has created relevant guidelines for each of its products, so that their integration in te diet of consumers contributes to a balanced diet. These guidelines formulate targets to be achieved in terms of nutrients (sugar, fatty acid, minerals, vitamins, etc.). The targets are then adapted to the local context in the various countries by our nutritional relays.

In order to ensure the compliance of our products with those guidelines and the needs of local consumers, an in-house instrument, Nutriprogress, has been deployed in the Fresh Dairy Products, Waters and Baby Nutrition divisions. This program enables definition of pertinent action plans with regard to product quality improvement.

A few key figures:


- In 2008, some 2000 fresh dairy product recipes were analyzed by the nutrition research teams and over 400 action plans were defined with a view to reducing the sugar and fat contents of our products and/or enriching them with vitamins and minerals.


- 15 years of continuous improvement were necessary to reach Danonino (Petit Gervais aux Fruits)’s current sugar and fat content, while maintaining the organoleptic characteristics of the product.