Yili taps Traditional Chinese Medicine & flavour to boost elderly nutrition

CHINA – Yili has unveiled a combination of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), flavour innovation, and age-friendly design in its elderly nutrition products for China’s ageing market.

According to the company, older shoppers increasingly want products that address age-related health concerns, he noted, yet they do not necessarily want items openly badged for the elderly.

Certain groups want products tailored to their needs, but nobody wants to look for an “elderly product” — and a good product may sell poorly if the messaging is wrong. 

“Creating products for older adults takes far more than nutritional benefits — acceptance also hinges on taste, positioning and ease of use. “In China, if a product doesn’t taste good, people won’t be buying it again,” said Yili Group Vice President Ignatius Szeto, speaking at the Growth Asia Summit 2026 held at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands from 8 to 10 July.

Yili stated that its elderly nutrition range as part of everyday life rather than ageing alone: its whole milk powder is marketed not only as a protein and calcium source for older adults but as a versatile ingredient for home baking and drinks such as cakes and milk tea. 

“Consumer education runs alongside product development, particularly where dairy is not an obvious fit. “For blood sugar management, dairy is not what consumers think of. So we do a lot of education to help consumers understand our products,” Ignatius Szeto said.

Bridging tradition and science

One approach has been building familiar TCM ingredients into dairy formulations to aid understanding and acceptance.

Yili worked with Beijing Tongrentang on products for bone and joint health, pairing TCM recipes with dairy ingredients so Chinese consumers can more easily relate to them.

The company has also developed an immunity-focused milk combining ingredients such as lactoferrin and goji berries, backed by scientific studies on efficacy.

“These are not image ingredients to lure consumers,” Ignatius Szeto said. “Sometimes we change the physical and chemical characteristics of the TCM ingredients so that they’re more bioavailable or can exert the actual function they’re supposed to. Ingredient combinations are designed to produce synergistic benefits, with efficacy exceeding that of the individual components.”

Additionally, China’s policy environment is helping too: under Healthy China 2030 and wider preventive healthcare efforts, investment in nutrition is increasingly seen as a way to curb future healthcare costs, opening opportunities for companies serving an ageing population.

As China’s largest dairy producer, Szeto added, Yili also backs broader industry innovation through its National Technology Innovation Center for Dairy, working with experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering across nutrition, dairy processing, quality standards and farm management.

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