Vitafoods Europe 2026: Arla Foods Ingredients’ protein innovations for GLP-1 support
27 May 2026 | Arla Foods Ingredients
Peter Andersen, the senior director at Arla Foods Ingredients, spoke about how GLP-1 users lose up to 40% of weight from lean muscle and how this is driving demand for compact, high-quality protein solutions. Andersen also covered the company’s gut health partnership with Novonesis and introduced the company’s lighter-textured “air bar” protein format.
Hello everybody, this is Brad Nichols from Nutrition Insight, and I, we are here live at Vita Foods Europe 2026 in Barcelona, Spain.
And today we are talking with Peter Anderson, the senior director of Arla Foods ingredients.
Hello Peter, how are you today?
I am good, thank you.
Thank you.
I've got some questions already, and I'd love to jump right in.
Yeah, go ahead.
You recently have cited Arla Food.
Ingredients recently cited GLP-1 users as losing up to 40% of their total mass from lean muscle, significantly higher than that from like diet or bariatric surgery.
How did that clinical data sort of shape your protein strategy behind the concepts you're presenting this year, and why are neutralla and lacoprodan BLG 100 the right solutions for this specific population?
Yeah, so.
When you're losing lean body mass, that's one of the major concerns whenever you're losing weight, because actually when you get a little bit older, loss of lean body mass is one of the most critical elements because it makes you not going to Places and you risk losing your freedom basically so keeping lean body mass is so important for generally the whole population when you move up your age in terms of the diet.
There you will be eating a lot less, and there is a lot of evidence stating that you actually get to a certain level where you will actually have lower levels of protein intake, which is causing is part of the reason why you would be losing more body weight, lean body mass over time.
The idea of having.
There you have a compact protein with a lot of high levels of muscle protein triggering amino acid called leucine, so it's kind of an ideal solution for muscle buildup or muscle maintenance.
So that's why is kind of a unique ingredient for the diet.
And the second part is that It tastes pretty darn good, so it's really, you know, you can actually get you can get the product into some products where the taste is still really, really nice and you don't get issues with the flavor or the odor of the final product that you have.
And GI, speaking of that though, gastrointestinal side effects affect up to 76% of GLP-1 users.
The most common companion nutrition conversation focuses on protein.
How central is the gut health piece to your formulation approach, and what does the Novanni Partnership add that a protein solution only wouldn't deliver as easily?
Yeah, so the protein is something.
That's where we are the experts in how it works in the different applications, but it's getting more and more important to solve some of the side effects that come with the diet.
Protein is one that is linked to the lean body mass.
Then you have stomach challenges in some of these individuals that do take the anti-obesity medicine.
And therefore a partnership with Nomonesis for example, has made a lot of sense.
Where are you looking at how we can optimize the gut flora of a human being so you can both circumvent the muscle loss and get a better stomach for the ones actually taking the.
GLP-1 companion nutrition is also being discussed across supplements, medical nutrition, mainstream food and beverage simultaneously all at the same time.
Where's the most significant and meaningful near-term opportunity for ingredient suppliers and which category do you think is moving fastest?
It's a very difficult question because it's becoming so blurry, so the focus on sports nutrition, medical nutrition is all moving really, really fast and functional food as , so.
So for example, here you have one a high protein fermented shot, so that's more in the dairy segment, a dairy application where you add in more protein.
This is a water shot, so that could be both in functional, it could be in sports, nutrition, performance, and then you for example have some of the bars where you add in more protein, and that could be both in the average lifestyle consumer and it could be in a chocolate bar, so the confectionery industry.
So it's really across all different industries that they could be very relevant for.
So one thing that's moving is packing as much protein in different food products.
That's the key here.
And speaking of that protein and digestive support our focus here, the GLP GLP-1 users likely represent broader nutrient, micronutrient gaps given the reduced food intake.
Is that the next frontier for all the foods ingredients in this space?
So again, we are protein experts and I think so, but it's more having a companion, so it could be adding more elements or more functionalities in the different food products, so solving one issue with the protein, but also solving some of the other things that come with the side effects of the diet and that's part of what we are focusing on how we can.
Best construct a food product that basically solves maybe not all challenges, but some some more challenges in the future.
In a format, easy to eat, highly compressed, it means a high level of protein or active ingredients in a small format for the easy to eat, and we were talking about this earlier, I went on a run today, came home, ate a bar, and just the amount of muscles that it took for me to chew through a protein.
Compared to trying these air bars today, it was completely 100% different.
Can you tell us a little bit more about these formulations?
Yes, so basically you're spot on with that comment is that normally you'll have these very chewable protein bars.
It takes forever to eat.
You are kind of sore in your face after eating it, so it's been a challenge, and that's what we've been trying to get around with the new bars that we have created.
It's also why we call it Air bar because it's a lighter, it's a better texture, so it's Gets away from from your mouth a lot quicker into the body and it becomes more like a normal Snickers mask, more like a confectionery bar, and that has a huge appeal to a lot of different consumers.
Peter, thank you so much for talking to us today.
Hope you have a great rest of the show.
We look forward to hearing a lot more from all the foods ingredients in the future.
Thanks for coming by.
