Manawatu Standard: Soothing treat could ease cancer treatment

Scientists from the University of Auckland have teamed up with Fonterra to develop a dessert which could offset the side-effects of chemotherapy.

The dessert – strawberry ice cream enriched with milk fat and a dairy protein – is undergoing clinical trials at the moment, with hopes that, if successful, it could help cancer patients globally.

An excerpt: (read in full here)

The medical food has been developed by Fonterra and the University of Auckland for trials to find if it can ease the diarrhoea, anaemia, weight loss and lowered immunity that makes some patients so sick that their treatment has to stop.

“”It could be very exciting, and the potential could be global,” said Fonterra’s chief technology officer Jeremy Hill.

“So far 10 cancer patients are on the trial, and Cancer Trials New Zealand needs another 190 across the eight hospitals that provide chemotherapy over the next year.”