An update on how the company AYMES, along with our Trademark Team, have expanded their range of medical nutrition products suitable for vegans
A recap on malnutrition
Undernutrition is an important issue that affects an estimated three million people in the UK. There are several reasons why someone may be at risk of malnutrition, including a loss of appetite or difficulty eating as a result of a health condition, increased nutritional requirements secondary to illness, age-related frailty or external factors, such as living on a low income.
It is estimated that malnutrition affects about 30% of adults admitted to hospital or attending a hospital outpatient appointment and 35% of adults entering care homes (Holdoway et al. 2021).
Treating malnutrition
In hospital and community settings, registered dietitians support people referred for malnutrition to improve their nutritional status. Initially, advice will likely focus on making the most of their food. For vegans, this might look like:
- eating little and often, focusing on regular small meals and snacks;
- including more energy-dense foods, such as nuts, seeds, avocados, olives, dried fruit, soya alternatives to milk and yogurt, and vegan chocolate;
- boosting the calorie and protein content of meals (also called ‘food fortification’) by adding nutrient-rich ingredients, such as houmous, margarine, vegetable oil, silken tofu, nut butter, soya cream or vegan cheese;
- making nourishing drinks, such as smoothies or plant-based milkshakes, using soya or pea milk blended with ingredients like banana, berries, nut butter, avocados or dates.
The role of medical nutrition
In some situations, it may be necessary for a dietitian or other healthcare professional to prescribe a medical nutrition product (oral nutritional supplement) alongside the provision of dietary advice. Historically, this was challenging for vegans and the clinicians supporting them because the available nutritional supplements designed to increase calorie, protein and micronutrient intake were all based on animal products.
In 2018, AYMES introduced ActaSolve Smoothie, the first oral nutritional supplement suitable for vegans to be made available on prescription. This fruit-flavoured powder supplement is based on soya protein and designed to be mixed with water, fruit juice or a plant-based dairy alternative. This product is certified by the Vegan Trademark, the world’s largest third-party vegan certification, and was an important step forward to give vegans experiencing malnutrition more options when it came to nutrition support plans that did not compromise their ethics.
In 2024, AYMES added a new, ready-to-drink, nutritionally balanced supplement called Actagain 1.5 Plant Powered to their range. This supplement is also certified by the Vegan Trademark and is based on faba bean protein, meaning it is also suitable for people with soya allergies or intolerances. It comes in three ‘milky-style’ flavours: Salted Caramel, Café Latte and Madagascan Vanilla.
In a recent survey by The Vegan Society exploring registered dietitians’ barriers to supporting vegan patients in clinical practice, a lack of choice when it came to nutritional supplements was identified as a key issue. The increase in medical nutrition options suitable for vegans that we are now seeing from companies such as AYMES is an essential step to ensuring that vegans are adequately supported to balance their clinical and ethical needs in healthcare settings.
For more information on vegan nutrition, including how to make the most of your food on a small appetite, head to vegansociety.com/nutrition
If you are a healthcare professional interested in AYMES’s plant-based oral nutritional supplements, or wish to order them directly for your patients, you can request free samples.
Reference
Holdoway A, Anderson L et al. (2021) Managing adult malnutrition in the community. Malnutrition Pathway, http://www.malnutritionpathway.co.uk
The views expressed by our bloggers are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.
