Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory launches a concentrated liquid diet product "HINEX^Ⓡ Jelly" as a new product with improved compositions and physical properties

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory, Inc. (Head Office: Naruto, Tokushima, Japan; President and Representative Director: Shuichi Takagi; "Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory") has updated its concentrated liquid diet product "Hine^® Jelly" with improved compositions and physical properties and will launch "HINEX^® Jelly ("the product")," as a new addition to the existing line of concentrated liquid diet products "HINEX", on March 25, 2024.

The product is a semisolid (jelly-type) concentrated liquid diet product made with agar for persons whose standard calorie intake is 900 to 1500 kcal per day. By reference to the Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese (2020), the product is intended to contain three major nutrients, vitamins and minerals in a well-balanced manner. In consideration of nutritional management for those with a low energy requirement, it is designed to almost fulfill the daily requirements of vitamins and trace elements with an intake of 900 kcal. It contains L-carnitine^*1, which is necessary for lipid metabolism, and inulin^*2 as a food fiber source. Its physical properties have also been improved by reference to the viscosity which is expected to suppress gastroesophageal reflux^*3.

Hine Jelly, which was released in 2007, contains nutrients modified by reference to the Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese (2005). The Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese has been updated every five years, and the latest edition was issued in 2020. Furthermore, a solid is generally excreted more slowly from the stomach than a liquid and backflow into the esophagus rarely occurs. As semisolid concentrated liquid diet products become familiar, further investigation is being conducted to search for an appropriate viscosity. Based on such backgrounds, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory has developed the product so that it has better compositions and physical properties than those of Hine Jelly.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory has marketed Hine Jelly Aqua, HINEX E-Gel, HINEX E-Gel LC, and HINEX RENUTE as concentrated liquid diet products and has been contributing to the nutrition status of patients. Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory aims to be the best partner in clinical nutrition by further expanding its line of Medical Foods^*4 and continuously providing information and products which are useful for proper nutritional management.

Based on the corporate philosophy of "Otsuka-people creating new products for better health worldwide," the Otsuka Group is dedicated to contributing to the health of people around the world.

*1 L-carnitine: A micronutrient which plays an important role in production of energy from fat.

*2 A water-soluble plant fiber contained in a large amount in burdocks and onions and used as a sweetener and an additive in a variety of foods.

*3 Atsuya SHIMIZU: The Journal of Japanese Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition 2018; 33 (1): 617-620

*4 We refer to the products that we have developed based on medical and nutritional grounds, and which play a role in healthcare, as "medical foods."

Product Information

*5 The price is shown as a reference price.