Medical nutrition companies
Adding a format to an existing range, or taking a product from powder into a ready-to-consume pack.
Therapeutic application
Oncology nutrition support
This is nutrition during treatment rather than nutrition to prevent disease, and the two are different products for different buyers. The brief here is weight loss, low appetite, altered taste and a sore mouth — which makes palatability and density the specification, and makes a product that is not finished worth nothing.
The nutritional brief
What the situation demands
Treatment changes how much someone eats and what they can tolerate. The formulation follows those constraints rather than a nutrient checklist.
- Energy and protein in a small volumeWeight and muscle loss during treatment is common, and intake is usually the limiting factor. Density is the first specification.
- Palatability under altered tasteTreatment commonly changes taste perception, including metallic notes and aversion to sweetness. A supplement designed around a normal palate often fails here.
- Tolerance for a sore mouth and throatOral mucositis makes acidic, rough, salty and very hot or cold products difficult. Texture and acidity become clinical variables.
- Variety, because aversion buildsA single flavour taken daily stops being finished. A range matters more in this category than in most.
- Small, frequent formatsSmaller serves taken more often are often better tolerated than a large one, which changes pack size as much as formulation.
- Ambient supplyTreatment happens at home as much as in hospital. Shelf-stable ambient formats remove the cold chain from the supply problem.
What we develop
Formats we build for this need
Each one is developed as its own product with its own specification — formulation, process and the analysis that proves the finished pack meets the profile it declares.
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High-Energy Oral Nutritional Supplements
Compact, energy- and protein-dense drinks for people eating far less than usual.
Develop an ONS -
Soft and Gentle-Texture Meals
Soft, low-acid, non-abrasive meals for a sore mouth and throat.
Develop a soft meal -
Spoonable and Dessert Formats
Puddings and creams for people who manage a spoon more easily than a drink.
Develop a spoonable -
Savoury Formats and Soups
Savoury alternatives for people who have lost tolerance for sweet supplements.
Develop a savoury format -
Compact Nutrition Shots
Small-volume, high-density formats taken frequently rather than in one sitting.
Develop a nutrition shot -
Home and Discharge Nutrition
Ambient formats for the weeks at home between treatment cycles.
Develop a home format
What we change
The levers we pull
Formulating for this category is about choosing a system that arrives at the specification after processing and storage, rather than one that meets it in the kitchen.
- Flavour built for an altered palateSavoury and neutral options, reduced sweetness, and management of the metallic and off notes that treatment commonly introduces.
- Density without volumeEnergy and protein raised so a small serve still counts, which makes emulsion stability the limiting factor.
- Texture for oral discomfortSmooth, non-abrasive systems with controlled acidity, so the product is tolerable rather than merely nutritious.
- A range, not a productFlavour fatigue is a real cause of failure here. Formats and flavours are developed as a set.
- Nutrient retention through the processDeclared vitamins are set from measured retention and confirmed by stability, because the declaration has to hold to the end of shelf life.
- Pack size and handlingSmaller packs, easy-open closures and formats that work at a bedside or a kitchen table.
Straight answers
What the evidence supports, and what it does not
We would rather you launched a product that holds up under scrutiny than one carrying a claim that does not. These are the places where the evidence is weaker than the category implies.
- The evidence base is heterogeneous
- Oncology nutrition support is commonly delivered as high-energy, high-protein oral supplements, sometimes EPA-enriched, and the trial evidence across the category is mixed rather than uniform. Formulate for tolerance and intake, which is where the reliable benefit sits.
- This is supportive nutrition, not treatment
- A product in this category supports nutritional status during treatment. It does not treat cancer, and no part of the pack should imply that it does.
- Immunonutrition here is perioperative and Grade B
- Where an arginine, omega-3 and nucleotide formula is indicated, current guidance places it around major tumour surgery at Grade B, with the strongest signal in malnourished patients. It is not a general oncology supplement, and arginine formulas are not recommended in severe sepsis or critical illness.
- Claims are tightly constrained
- In the European Union a food for special medical purposes may not carry nutrition or health claims at all. In India the condition statement is subject to approval by the Authority. The product communicates through its intended use, and that has to be designed in from the start.
Who we develop for
Manufacturers, institutions and programme buyers
Products in this category are developed here for the organisations that have to put them in front of a clinician, a procurement team or a regulator.
Nutraceutical and functional food brands
Moving from general wellness into a defined clinical need, where the profile becomes the specification.
Hospitals, care homes and caterers
Producing to a standardised portion and profile, centrally, and shipping ambient.
Public health and institutional programmes
Supplementary and therapeutic feeding where composition, shelf life and cost per serve are fixed by tender.
Private label and OEM buyers
Sourcing under your own brand, needing the formulation and process proven before a co-packer is committed.
NPD, R&D and regulatory teams
Inside an established manufacturer, needing formulation, process and regulatory work in one place.
The technical side
The terms your file will use
If you are briefing an R&D, regulatory or quality team, or answering a tender or an importer’s questionnaire, these are the concepts the work is built on.
Terms in this category
- Cachexia
- The loss of weight and muscle seen in advanced disease, which does not fully reverse with feeding alone.
- Oral mucositis
- Inflammation and ulceration of the mouth and throat during treatment, which makes acidity and texture clinical variables.
- Taste alteration
- Changes in taste perception during treatment, including metallic notes and sweet aversion, which drive reformulation.
- Energy density
- Calories per millilitre or per serve — the primary specification when intake is the limiting factor.
- EPA enrichment
- Eicosapentaenoic acid added to oncology supplements in some products; the evidence across the category is heterogeneous.
- Flavour fatigue
- Declining intake of a repeated flavour, a common and under-recognised reason supplements stop being finished.
- Intended use statement
- The regulated sentence describing the dietary management a product is for, which carries the message where claims are prohibited.
- Delivered profile
- What the finished processed pack contains, as distinct from the recipe — the figure that is regulated and declared.
Where this sits in what we do
- Formulation and developmentConcept, formulation design and lab-scale trials against your target profile
- Pilot manufacturingTrial batches in the pack the product will ship in, including our pilot retort for shelf-stable formats
- Process validationThermal process validation and the scheduled process that a manufacturer runs from
- Stability and shelf lifeAccelerated and real-time studies establishing what the declared life actually is
- Clinical validationTrial design and management where an intended use or a claim has to be substantiated
- Regulatory and commercialisationClassification, labelling and the documentation each destination market asks for
Related work: clinical nutrition, therapeutic nutrition, retort clinical and medical nutrition and clinical trial management.
Questions
Oncology support, specifically
How is this different from your cancer applications page?
That page is about formulating for prevention and general health. This one is about supporting nutritional status during and after treatment. Different buyer, different brief, different product: one is built around an ingredient story, the other around whether someone who feels unwell will finish the serve.
Why does palatability matter more here than in other categories?
Because intake is the limiting factor. Treatment commonly alters taste perception and can make the mouth sore, so a supplement designed for a normal palate is often left unfinished. An unfinished product delivers nothing, however good its profile is on paper.
Should the range include savoury options?
Usually yes. Sweet aversion is common during treatment and most of the category is sweet. A savoury or neutral option is often the one that gets finished, and flavour fatigue means a range performs better than a single product.
Can we say the product helps with cancer?
No. This is supportive nutrition during treatment, and the pack should say exactly that. In the European Union a food for special medical purposes cannot carry nutrition or health claims at all; in India the condition statement needs approval from the Authority on scientific and clinical evidence. We scope the wording with you before the formulation is fixed.
Is EPA worth including?
Some oncology supplements are EPA-enriched and there is a rationale behind it, but the evidence across the category is heterogeneous rather than settled. If you include it, the oxidative stability work has to be real — encapsulation, antioxidant system, pack barrier and peroxide value tracked across shelf life.
What format works best at home between treatment cycles?
Usually smaller, ambient, easy-open formats taken more often, rather than one large serve. Removing the cold chain matters for home supply, and a smaller pack is finished more reliably when appetite is poor.
See the wider applications index
Next step
Tell us what the product has to do
Send the target profile, the format you have in mind and the market you are selling into. We will tell you what is achievable, what the evidence will and will not support on the label, and what the development work would need to cover.
- 1Send the briefA target profile and a format is enough to start.
- 2We come back within two working daysWith what is achievable and where the risk sits.
- 3You get a scoped quotePriced on the work the product actually needs.
