6 days ago
Ideal summer treat: Slow-melt ice cream that's healthy, tasty
Kana Sugimura, a TS Alfresa Corp. employee who developed the 'Eiyo Oen Aisu' nutritional supplement, holds a large model of the ice cream product in Hiroshima's Nishi Ward on March 3. (Hideki Soejima)
HIROSHIMA—A sales representative with no experience in product development played an integral role in creating a slow-melting ice cream rich in nutrients to improve the health of elderly people.
And it tastes pretty good, according to early reviews.
Kana Sugimura came up with the idea after visiting hospitals and nursing homes to pitch jellies, drinks and other nutritional supplements for TS Alfresa Corp., a medical wholesaler based in Hiroshima's Nishi Ward.
She wanted to help increase the nutritional intake for elderly patients and residents, especially during summer when they lose their appetites.
The elderly also told Sugimura that jellies were too sweet, and that it was dispiriting to eat supplemental foods every day.
What they wanted, they told her, was ice cream.
STIMULATING APPETITE
An estimated 80 percent of at-home patients are undernourished or believed to be, according to a survey by the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology and other institutions.
And nearly 40 percent of hospital patients are undernourished elderly people.
Sugimura, who studied nutrition science at the Prefectural University of Hiroshima, is a certified dietitian and nutrition management consultant. She proposed the idea of a nutritional supplement in the form of ice cream to her company two years ago.
Takayuki Matsumura, 45, then vice manager of the sales planning division, gave Sugimura the green light to develop the product.
Moreover, he encouraged her to create it from scratch instead of asking a manufacturer to make it for her.
Sugimura set a goal of producing a melt-resistant, nutritional and tasty ice cream.
TWO YEARS IN DEVELOPMENT
TS Alfresa spent two years jointly developing the ice cream with Chichiyasu Co., a dairy products maker based in Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture.
The company outsourced production to Tonichi Co., a Fukushima-based producer of wholesale desserts for businesses.
Sugimura was both a product developer and a sales rep until 2024, when she started working exclusively on the ice cream.
She received 6 million yen ($41,700) in health- and medical-related subsidies from the prefectural government for two consecutive years.
To assess whether the ice cream was effective as a nutritional supplement, she surveyed 10 at-home patients through Hirao Clinic in Hiroshima's Saeki Ward. She collected five weeks of data on what they ate as well as their body components, such as fat and muscle content, and blood.
MELT-RESISTANT ICE CREAM
Her hard work bore fruit with 'Eiyo Oen Aisu' (Nutrition support ice cream), Japan's first nutritional supplement ice cream product.
It is melt-resistant and keeps its shape for about an hour, and its taste is not too sweet.
The ice cream product also contains 5 grams of protein, provides 130 kilocalories of energy, and supplies a whole day's worth of vitamin D.
The yogurt-flavored frozen treat contains 100 billion lactic acid bacteria.
Hospitals and other institutions have made several inquiries about the release date and how to obtain samples.
After the turn of the year, TS Alfresa started selling the ice cream on a trial basis at two pharmacies in Hiroshima Prefecture.
When TS Alfresa set up a booth at a fair hosted by the Japanese Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Therapy in Yokohama in February, it ran out of its 2,600 servings midway through the event.
The melt-resistance aspect was a particular crowd pleaser, the company said.
Corporate promotions for the product started in June, and sales are set to begin in the Chugoku region in July.
TS Alfresa will gradually expand sales to other regions across the country, aiming to sell 1.8 million units by 2030.
'Old people say it tastes good and finish eating it all, and many of them told me they were waiting for something like this,' Sugimura said. 'I'm really happy.'
