In this episode, Jozien Boersma and I talk about how her startup, Vini Mini, tackles the rising epidemic of food allergies.
Discover how early introduction of common allergens, like peanuts, cow milk, and nuts, can help build your baby’s tolerance and reduce the risk of allergies. And learn about actionable methods for safely introducing these foods.
Jozien also shares essential insights on the timing, the influence of climate change on allergy prevalence, and the importance of proactive prevention.
To listen, click play below or find episode 65 of Women Disrupting Tech on your favorite podcast platform.
Breaking the Food Allergy Cycle with Vini Mini Co-founder Jozien Boersma | Ep. 65 – Women Disrupting Tech
The Magic You Can Expect in this Episode 🪄
Did you know that one in four children now has a food allergy? And this figure has doubled in just the past decade. If this trend continues, we could see half the world’s population living with food allergies by 2050.
This isn’t just a challenge for parents and our already overstretched healthcare system. This trend prevents us from transitioning to sustainable food.
The good news: feeding babies precisely the food that they would otherwise become allergic to within the first year can help us break this cycle.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:
🔂 Climate change is fueling the rise in food allergies, creating a vicious cycle that we need to break.
👩🏼🏫 Timing is everything when it comes to introducing allergens. So, educating parents about food allergies even before the baby is born is critical.
🫱🏼🫲🏾 How to partner with specialists who can arrange for the production and packaging of foods when you’re not an expert in the field.
Tune in to learn how Vini Mini is leading the charge to break the food allergy cycle and build a healthier future. You can find episode 65 of Women Disrupting Tech on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.
PS. Don’t forget to let me know your thoughts about the episode in the comments.
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What makes this episode magical🌟?
For starters, it is great to hear that a seemingly complex problem can be solved quite easily. Studies have shown that around 80% of food allergies can be prevented by feeding babies precisely the food that they would otherwise become allergic to.
Another part is the magic behind making the portions bite-size for babies and guiding parents on how to increase the portion size. Because one of the biggest challenges for parents is mixing the correct amount of allergens into the baby’s regular food.
Finally, I love how educating parents is really a team effort of government agencies, pediatric care, and companies like Vini Mini. Together, they ensure that parents get the right information at the right time.
“For me, the proof of the pudding is that healthcare professionals are collaborating with us.”
Jozien Boersma, Co-founder Vini Mini
About Jozien Boersma
Jozien Boersma is on a mission to help parents prevent food allergies in babies. After getting an MBA from the Vrije Universiteit, she had a 15-year corporate career in marketing for nutrition companies like Danone and FrieslandCampina. She found her true calling as the co-founder of Vini Mini, where she empowers parents to prevent food allergies from the very start.
You can connect with Jozien on LinkedIn. If you have any questions about her work at Vini Mini, she invites you to email her.
About Vini Mini
In 2020, she co-founded Vini Mini with Laurie Lancee. Vini Mini helps parents to prevent food allergies in babies. They provide supplements that contain allergens like peanuts and nuts in doses that help the baby’s immune system build up resistance to them.
You can learn more about Vini Mini on their website, and I invite you to follow them on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Links to research
In this episode, Jozien highlights some research that is done into the effects of feeding babies the foods to prevent them from becoming allergic to them.
– The EAT study that was done in the UK to investigate the impact of early introduction of allergenic foods reduced the number of children developing food allergies and other allergic diseases, such as eczema.
– The LEAP study revealed that early introduction reduces the risk of peanut allergies by 80% compared to avoidance of peanuts.
– The PETIT Study investigated the effects of early introduction of egg to prevent egg allergy.
Let me know what you think!
Please let me know your thoughts about this episode of Women Disrupting Tech in the comments.
Feel free to share tips and tricks that you have on ensuring that your baby doesn’t develop a food allergy as well.
And if you would like to suggest a guest that I absolutely must have on the podcast, send me an email or a DM on LinkedIn.
What’s coming up?
Next week on Women Disrupting Tech, Kasia Pokrop will take us on a deep dive into the three Ms of a woman’s life: Menstruation, Motherhood, and Menopause.
After that, Mitra Gilasgar is my guest to discuss how she inspires the next generation of women in tech as a role model.
So stay tuned for more inspiring women disrupting tech and their male allies in season three of Women Disrupting Tech!
Women Disrupting Tech | The Podcast 