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Asahi Shimbun
03-08-2025
- Health
- Asahi Shimbun
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.'
The Mainichi
10-06-2025
- Health
- The Mainichi
Japan researchers identify gene cluster that could help prevent some cases of Alzheimer's
TOKYO -- A cluster of genes that could open the way to "tailor-made" prevention methods against Alzheimer's based on a person's physical constitution and other factors has been identified by Japanese researchers at the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology here. Among those who are genetically at high risk of developing the disease, exercise and cognitive training can improve cognitive function, the researchers reported in Alzheimer's Research & Therapy on June 10. The results are hoped to be a step toward efficient use of limited health care personnel and budgets. A moderate amount of exercise and brain training is used at medical facilities and old-age care homes as interventions against dementia. However, the effectiveness of these measures has been seen in some but not others, and the cause of this difference has been little understood. The researchers analyzed the genomes of 3,962 Alzheimer's disease patients aged 65 to 85 and 4,074 seniors with normal cognitive function, both groups of which were registered in a biobank. They found 12,819 differences in the nucleotide sequences of dementia-related genes, and classified the patients into two groups: those with a genetically high risk of developing the disease and those with a low risk. The researchers then studied how cognitive function had changed over a one-and-a-half-year period while providing anti-dementia activities such as weekly exercise, nutritional guidance and brain training. Among those at high risk of developing the disease for whom measures were implemented, the proportion seeing an improvement was 3.6 times higher after six months than among those without the measures, and remained two times higher after both one year and 18 months. However, for those at low risk of developing the disease, no difference in symptom improvement was observed regardless of countermeasures. There was also no improvement among those with mutations of either the ID3 or LMO1 genes even with the preventative measures. Mutations of ID3 were seen in 36% of test subjects and in 2% for LMO1. Lead researcher Daichi Shigemizu said, "A new medicine for treating Alzheimer's disease has recently been developed, but its administration is limited, and brain training as a nondrug treatment remains important as a familiar countermeasure. We'd like to increase the number of treatment cases and improve the accuracy of identifying people who are expected to benefit from these measures."
