By Charlotte Tonkin
Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy may soon be able to combat some of the most debilitating side effects of the treatment simply by indulging in a few scoops of ice cream each day, thanks to a joint project by Fonterra and the University of Auckland.
The strawberry ice cream is called Recharge, and its developers hope it will eliminate diarrhoea and anaemia, which are not only side effects of chemotherapy but can also interfere with the effectiveness of the cancer treatment.
“It can in fact be life threatening, so the treatment in some cases may be delayed or stopped altogether. So the success of chemotherapy can depend on how well a patient copes with chemotherapy,” says medical researcher Geoff Krissenson.
And unlike other medicines, this one is a tasty distraction.
Recharge was developed at Fonterra’s innovation centre in Palmerston North.
Researchers discovered that two of the thousands of components found in milk, combated diarrhoea and anaemia in mice.
The project has been in the pipeline for seven years and has cost $2 million so far.
“Often work that's done with animals in the lab doesn't translate into human trial, however we saw some very promising results so we're quite hopeful it will work,” says Jeremy Hill, Fonterra’s chief technology officer.
Researchers are looking for 200 patients to be involved in the trial over the next nine months. So far ten have offered their tastebuds.
“If you can get away from the cocktail of pills and liquids and stuff that we have to manage those sorts of side effects, a single tub of ice cream everyday, that would be magic,” says one chemotherapy patient, Les.
However, it will be a year until the team will know for sure whether the ice cream really is the sweet taste of success.
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