Sports Yogurts Offer Consumers Whey Protein Boost

AARHUS, Denmark—Arla Foods Ingredients developed a whey protein for creating ‘sports yogurts’—yogurt-based sports nutrition products that will appeal to active consumers who prefer not to use traditional gels and shakes.

The Nutrilac solution allows manufacturers to produce drinkable sports yogurts with a taste and texture similar to a standard drinking yogurt, but with a whey protein content as high as 28 g per serving—a level that will offer optimal recovery benefits.

The sports yogurt concept is expected to resonate with ordinary consumers who take their exercise seriously (often referred to as ‘weekend warriors’). Using the new ingredient, sports yogurts can be formulated in a variety of flavors and packaged in bottles or pouches, formats that are already well-established and popular in the fast-growing sports nutrition category.

“The numbers of people participating in sports is rocketing, but many are put off using traditional sports nutrition products because they don’t like their taste and texture," said Torben Jensen, category manager for functional dairy products at Arla Foods. “Sports yogurts will widen the appeal of sports nutrition products to reach new active consumers, helping to encourage incremental growth in the category."

Whey protein is easily digested and absorbed quickly by the body, and is therefore effective in helping the muscles recover from intense physical activity. It also offers well-documented bone health benefits, offering yogurt manufacturers the opportunity to create great tasting sports yogurts that provide a combined muscle and bone health proposition.

Check out INSIDER’s Digital Pulse “Examining Popular Forms of Protein" for more information on ingredients such as whey, soy, casein and beyond.