Infant formula tablets

Inventors

Banavara, Dattatreya • Gonzalez, Juan M.

Assignees

Mead Johnson Nutrition Co

Abstract

A nutritional compositions in a compressed solid form comprising about 5 to about 35% by weight of protein, about 5 to about 50% by weight percent of fat, and about 40 to about 70% by weight percent of carbohydrate, wherein the compressed solid form is readily dissolvable in water and has a moisture level of 4 to 17%. The nutritional composition, in certain embodiments, eliminates the need for scooping powder into narrow bottles, eliminates the need for transportation of loose powders for later reconstitution, and provides more precise serving sizes to ensure proper delivery of nutrients per feeding, while remaining readily dissolvable upon contact with a liquid. The disclosure further provides process for preparing a nutritional composition in a compressed solid form comprising cooling a powdered nutritional composition, contacting the cooled powdered nutritional composition with moisture, compressing the powdered nutritional composition under pressure, and drying the nutritional composition.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to infant and children’s nutritional products provided in a compressed solid form tablet that is readily dissolvable in water. It uses a powdered nutritional composition that is transformed into a compressed solid while controlling moisture so the tablet can dissolve without problematic behavior associated with fat mobility, tablet dissolution, or oxidation.

A key aspect of the process is cooling the powdered nutritional composition to a temperature below 11°C prior to contacting it with moisture. The powdered material is then contacted with moisture and compressed under pressure in the range of 1 to 100 psi, followed by drying.

The disclosed moisture control targets about 4 to 17% moisture for the formulation after the moisture-contact step and further drying to a final moisture level of about 0.2 to 5% (with examples around 3%). The disclosed approach includes a moisture-contact step using fine particulate water mist, including mist particle sizes in the nanometer range, and results in improved water-dissolvability.

Claims Coverage

The independent claim covers a compressed-solid-form process for preparing a nutritional composition and includes four main inventive features: cooling the powdered nutritional composition below 11°C, contacting with moisture, compressing under 1-100 psi, and drying.

Across the independent claim, the core claim coverage is directed to preparing a nutritional composition in a compressed solid form by cooling a powdered nutritional composition below 11°C, contacting it with moisture, compressing under 1-100 psi, and drying. The dependent claims further specify moisture level targets, refined compression pressure, moisture addition using fine particulate mist with particle size ranges including 10-1500 nm, inclusion of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid sources, and an example dissolution constraint.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications