Everbloom Health at HudsonAlpha launches new food product for kidney disease patients
Burl Barley Granola, developed by Huntsville-based Everbloom Health, is a food that can help dialysis patients stick to their diets and can be shared with nonpatients, too. (contributed)
Everbloom Health, Inc., an associate company on the campus of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, has launched a new granola product to suit the dietary needs of kidney failure patients on dialysis.
According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, more than 661,000 Americans have kidney failure. Individuals on special dialysis diets have modifications that sometimes limit the consumption of certain foods of nutritional value such as whole grains.
Burl Barley Granola is available in Cranberry and Maple Syrup & Pecan flavors. (contributed)
To address this issue, Everbloom Health developed Burl Barley Granola, which uses rolled barley as the sole grain source, a recommended grain for kidney diets because of its lower phosphorus content.
“Kidney failure places a significant burden on the daily lives of patients,” said Chris Cummings, Ph.D., President and CEO of Everbloom Health. “We recognized a need for convenient food options that can help these patients stay within their recommended diet. We are particularly excited about working with whole-grain rolled barley, which has a wonderful nutritional profile, supported by clinical data, and is recommended for dialysis diets. With Burl, we want to provide a kidney-friendly food option that can be enjoyed by dialysis patients and others.”
Everbloom Health is a subsidiary of Sulfilatec, Inc., a preclinical-stage biotechnology company founded by Cummings and based on the HudsonAlpha campus. Also focused on dialysis, Sulfilatec is developing novel treatments tailored to the unique biochemical profile of dialysis patients in order to improve dialysis outcomes.
“Medicine is about people, and we founded Sulfilatec to help people live better while on dialysis,” said Cummings. “In keeping with that focus, we launched Burl as a means of helping dialysis patients eat well and improve their nutrition. But we also wanted Burl to be shared, something for example that a patient could enjoy with a friend who has healthy kidneys. Rolled barley is great for Burl because it’s a kidney-friendly whole grain and it makes delicious granola that’s different from other products on the market.”
To learn more, view recipes and purchase Burl Barley Granola, visit at burlgranola.com.
