Fonterra has taken a punt on a San Francisco start-up, Dreamerz Foods Inc, which is doping flavoured UHT milk with melatonin and selling it as a drink designed to help people get to sleep.
Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd, San Francisco-based Physic Ventures, and American multinational Dean Foods haveinvested a total of US$10 million ($13.5 million) in Dreamerz in a second round of venture funding, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The company has been selling its drink online and at drugstores since April. Each 236ml serve of the drink contains 150mg of "Lactium" a patented milk protein broken down from casein, which a French manufacturer, Ingredia, claims has relaxing properties.
The drinks also contain the hormone melatonin, which American research has shown can help middle-aged and elderly insomniacs sleep better. Human melatonin is produced naturally in the pineal gland, a pea-sized organ in the centre of the brain.
New Zealand health officials banned over-the-counter sales of melatonin in 1997 -- restricting the hormone's use to prescriptions -- after health food stores began selling it to shiftworkers, old people, and international travellers to help adjust their sleep patterns.
Dreamerz has claimed the melatonin in its milk can help people to fall asleep faster, wake fewer times per night and improve their overall quality of sleep without unwanted side effects.
The drinks sell for US$2.59 ($3.50) for a single serve, and US$7.49 ($10.12) for nearly a litre.
