Lee Cheol-ho, Head of Dairy Team at HY Central Research Institute, "Will's Secret to Longevity is Constant Upgrading"

Presented up to the 10th generation since the first release
Applied self-developed Kkujippong leaf extract

Lee Cheol-ho, Team Leader of Dairy Products, Product Development Center, HY Central Research Institute.

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] "Will is not a stagnant product. It is a product that is continuously upgraded to reflect consumer demands and social trends."

On the 18th, Lee Cheol-ho, head of the Dairy Products Team at the Product Development Center of hy Central Research Institute, stated in an interview with Asia Economy, "This is the first time that the 10th generation Will has included individually approved raw materials as secondary ingredients."

Since its first launch in September 2000, the 10th generation stomach health fermented milk, ‘Helicobacter Project Will,’ released last February, has applied the natural material ‘Kkujibpong Leaf Extract.’ Kkujibpong Leaf Extract is an individually approved raw material developed by hy. Individually approved raw materials are health functional food ingredients recognized by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for safety and functionality. In November last year, hy received final approval for Kkujibpong Leaf Extract with the claim that it "can help improve stomach discomfort." The developer is granted exclusive manufacturing and sales rights for six years for individually approved raw materials.

Lee said, "Through human application tests, hy researchers confirmed that Kkujibpong Leaf Extract significantly improved stomach discomfort, upper abdominal pain, and acid reflux," adding, "The 10th generation Will is further strengthened by containing 50mg of Kkujibpong Leaf Extract while maintaining the advantages of previous generations, including two patented stomach health probiotics (HP7 and HY7013)." Will, classified as a general fermented milk, contains 50mg of Kkujibpong Leaf Extract, which is about half the standard amount of 100mg required to be recognized as a health functional food."

hy 'Helicobacter Project Will'

The development of Kkujibpong Leaf Extract was a challenging process that took six years of research to gain functional recognition. Lee recalled that selecting natural materials effective for stomach health was the most difficult task. He said, "It was like having no herbal medicine shop," explaining, "We selected about 250 types of natural materials through literature such as Donguibogam and repeated the same experiments for several months to study the extraction methods by creating more than three types of extracts per material to find the most effective one."

Since Kkujibpong Leaf Extract is a natural material, its characteristic bitterness and astringency when applied to the product were also challenges to overcome. hy cites the refreshing taste as one of the reasons for Will's popularity. While adding the extract for functionality, they had to maintain the same taste as the existing product. Lee said, "We solved the problem by using an ingredient called cyclodextrin," adding, "The researchers in charge worked hard through repeated tests to find the optimal dosage." Will balances sourness and sweetness by applying lactic acid bacteria that produce less lactic acid, which causes sourness, and reduces astringency by adding pear juice and maesil (Korean plum) extract."

Lee Cheol-ho, Team Leader of Dairy Products, Product Development Center, HY Central Research Institute.

With increased interest in health due to COVID-19, the functional fermented milk market is expected to continue growing. According to market research firm Euromonitor, the domestic fermented milk market size reached 1.9442 trillion KRW last year, growing at an average annual rate of 1.9% over five years, and is expected to expand to 2.2498 trillion KRW by 2026.

Lee predicted, "The category will expand beyond the existing stomach, intestine, and liver functionalities to include immunity, skin, and eye health," and added, "The launch of high-protein products like Greek yogurt will also increase, following the trend of protein foods and convenient meal replacement fermented milks such as topping yogurts."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.