UNAIR NEWS – Nutritional intake and supplements for pregnant women are very important to support the growth and development of the fetus. These micronutrients include potassium and calcium. If these nutrients are not met, pregnant women can be at risk of having a miscarriage, non-optimal fetal growth, and even disability.
In this regard, a professor of the Faculty of Public Health (FKM) Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) Prof Dr Ir Prof Annis Catur Adi MSi and the team created an innovation called Bone_Kal. The formulation chew candy made of dry extract of green coconut water and catfish bone is special for pregnant women. This innovation officially gained an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) patent in January 2022.
To UNAIR NEWS, Prof. Annis explained that the problem of nutritional intake in pregnant women can actually be handled by adopting a good diet. But in fact, the needs of pregnant women are greater than ordinary mothers, and they tend to find it challenging to eat. Therefore, pregnant women need supplementation to reduce the risk of malnutrition.
“A lot of supplementation has been done in the form of capsules or tablets. However, the price is high, and the body response is not good. For example, blood supplement tablets are uncomfortable, nauseous, and have a fishy smell, so they are not optimal. Therefore, the body response problem is important so pregnant women can consume supplements safely,” he explained on Tuesday, April 11, 2023.
He continued by looking at the problem, he tried to take advantage of existing technology and natural resources to make chew candy as a substitute for supplements for pregnant women. The chew candy contains potassium from coconut water and calcium found in fish bones.
“This candy is not ordinary candy. It contains nutrients pregnant women need. Why do we make it chewy? Because, in reality, there are still many people who have difficulty taking supplements. The chew candy can be sucked, then chewed in the mouth, and the response is comfortable,” explained the lecturer at the Department of Nutrition.
Pregnancy supplement research journey
The Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) East Java activist explained that this idea came up when he and his team supervised a dissertation. The dissertation discusses the habits of pregnant women in the Dayak tribe who like to consume coconut water.
“Pregnant women in the Dayak tribe drink coconut water to clean their waters. They can drink one coconut water, around 400-600 ml, in a day. But the problem is, they can’t finish the coconut water. Second, finding coconuts is also difficult. They have to move to various places,” he said.
“Based on the problem earlier, we negotiated what if it was materialized in a more practical form. That is why we take waste coconut water and fish bones. We use that waste, clean and process it,” continued Prof. Annis.
Furthermore, the functional food researcher explained several chew candy processes. First, the collected fish bones must be pressure-cooked, dried, and then processed into flour. He admitted the process was easy because he had a mini flour processing factory.
The second is processing coconut water waste into powder using spread dryer technology. He admitted it was quite difficult because he does not have the technology, so he had to use third party for it.
“Coconut water turns into powder, fish bones into powder, then we make it one. We press it and give it a delicious taste, which is mint flavor. Be a chew candy. In the future, we will develop this chew candy according to its designation. Tablet form for adults and gummy form for children. (*)
Author: Rafli Noer Khairam
Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia
