Ural students came up with a unique personalized nutrition project

Its authors, students of three Ural universities, created a line of food products for people with special needs.
The essence of the project is to develop finished products, the composition of which is ideal for people with various diseases. So, with phenylketonuria, a hereditary metabolic disease, it is important to exclude high-protein foods from the diet, and celiac disease implies a gluten-free diet. In addition, a significant part of the population chronically suffers from other diseases that require the consumption of foods enriched with vitamins, minerals and certain substances. According to the World Health Organization, 33% of women and 27% of men in Russia over the age of 50 have osteoporosis, and about a third of all women constantly suffer from anemia.
“The project is based on a personal story; I myself am a carrier of a genetic disease - phenylketonuria - and I know firsthand how difficult it is to find the right product. Frozen semi-finished products, which greatly facilitate the cooking process, are not available for me today at all. Our goal is to launch the production of specialized and functional food products for specific diets and purposes, so that everyone can buy a product that suits them in the nearest store. According to a survey we conducted, out of 374 people, 362 people would like to have this opportunity. Moreover, more than half of the respondents have dietary peculiarities,” said Evgenia Saltseva, the author of the project, a 3rd year student at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Ural State Agrarian University.
A team of students from Sverdlovsk universities: agricultural, medical and communications - have already developed gluten-free Bolognese and Arabiata pastas, meat rolls, low-protein Margherita pizza, vegetarian dolma, potato sausages .
“Our line includes specialized products for people with low-protein and gluten-free diets and functional foods fortified with iron, iodine, calcium and vitamin D so that people can get the right amount of useful elements. In addition, we ourselves tested the finished products not only for their benefits, but also for their taste. It turned out excellent. For example, gluten-free low-protein pizza Margherita has a bright tomato taste with notes of Italian herbs and a slight taste of milk, which is typical of vegetarian cheese,” added E. Saltseva.
With their project, Evgeniya Saltseva, Gleb Shageev and Sergey Pilshchikov became finalists of the Innodiving 2023 accelerator and entered the top 10 of the all-Russian program “I’m in!” Their idea of ​​​​creating personalized nutrition for city residents has already been supported by the well-known retail chain in Yekaterinburg, LifeMart. Now young people are looking for an investor and are finalizing a business plan, which involves investing about 2.3 million rubles to launch the project and payback within two years.

Text – Yulia Filimonova
Photo – Evgenia Saltseva
02/21/2024