Researchers from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) who are on a mission to boost nutrition among older patients are celebrating their third award win for their high protein-enhanced ice cream Nottingham Ice Cream (N-ICE Cream) in less than a year.
Just three months after scooping a category win in the prestigious World Food Innovation Awards, the team behind N-ICE Cream received another trophy – a win at the World Dairy Innovation Awards in June for ‘Best Dairy Protein Product’.
This followed a national award for NHS Innovation from Medipex Ltd, a healthcare innovation hub, which was presented to N-ICE Cream research leader Professor Opinder Sahota in October 2022.
Commenting on the latest award, Professor Sahota, a Consultant in ortho-geriatric medicine at NUH, said: “Yet again, judges from a prestigious external awards scheme recognised the potential of our nutritious muscle targeted high protein ice cream, which has been designed to address the serious problem of malnutrition and muscle weakness among older people.
“We’re not standing still with N-ICE Cream and are now working with a new manufacturing partner, Matlock Meadows Dairy Farm in Derbyshire, to develop new flavours.”
He added: “Our N-ICE cream product – which has been developed in-house by our research team at Nottingham University Hospitals and the University of Nottingham – is an innovative solution to help older patients who are being cared for on our spinal and HCOP (Health Care for Older People) wards at Queen’s Medical Centre hospital who do not consume enough protein and calories.
“We know N-ICE Cream has the potential to help many more patients in NHS hospitals and older people being looked after in the community by the care sector.”
James Taylor, Awards Marketing Executive at FoodBev Awards, hailed Professor Sahota’s success in winning a second food innovation award as proof “of the outstanding efforts made to tackle malnutrition and enhance people’s quality of life.”
The World Dairy Innovation Awards attract dozens of entries from leading manufacturers of dairy products, including household name brands, and NUH’s entry was the only winner from an NHS organisation.
Now in their 16th year, the awards are a celebration of innovation and excellence across every category of the international dairy industry.
Judges praised the finalists’ “exceptional contributions to the dairy industry” and “unwavering commitment to innovation and excellence.” This year, they said the “remarkable accomplishments” of the winners had “truly set new benchmarks for the global dairy industry”.
- On 27th June, the N-ICE Cream research team also received internal recognition from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. Rachael Taylor was a runner-up in NUH Research & Innovation’s annual Research Excellence staff awards for her work as research nurse on the N-ICE Cream research project. The award citation said: “Rachael went over and above to complete the project. This involved co-ordinating the delivery of the ice creams to the ward, staying late to ensure the ice cream could be offered to patients and collating the final research data.”