China is set to be a target market for a potential wonder food to help infants sleep through the night.

A team at the University of Otago is working on creating a slow release energy food aimed at babies, to stop them from waking up hungry.

They have just received $1 million from the High-Value Nutrition National Science Challenge.

Professor Gerald Tannock said the challenge is aimed at creating products for Asian consumers.

"China would be a big market because there's 15-20 million births per year in China, it'll increase soon because of their relaxation of the single child policy."

Professor Tannock hopes to have a formal product on the market within about 18 months'.

High-Value Nutrition, which was set up by the government, has allocated $7 million in funding to various food projects throughout the country.

Science director professor David Cameron-Smith said at least 95 per cent of what New Zealand produces is destined for the export market.

"We know that it's high quality, we know that we manufacture and produce it better than just about anywhere else in the world, but what we need to do, is try and create food that really sings health to the rest of the world."

David Cameron-Smith said food allergies are becoming a major health burden world-wide, and he's hopeful this will lessen the blow.