NZ researchers use ice cream to combat cancer effects

WELLINGTON, (Reuters Life!) – New Zealand scientists  are developing an ice cream that is so good for you, it could  come with a doctor’s prescription.

Researchers at the University of Auckland are working with  dairy giant Fonterra to create a “medical dessert” which has  shown encouraging signs in combating the side-effects of  chemotherapy in cancer sufferers. The ice cream, called  ReCharge, is using active ingredients from dairy products to  relieve diarrhoea, anemia and lack of appetite in people  undergoing chemotherapy.

Participants in a trial have been eating a 100 gram tub of  the strawberry-flavoured ice cream each day.
“The two bio-active milk components developed for ReCharge  have the unique potential to assist the body in coping with the  side effects of chemotherapy,” Fonterra’s chief technology  office Jeremy Hill said in a statement.

Dairy is New Zealand’s largest export industry, with  Fonterra controlling about a third of the world’s dairy  exports.