In France, about two million people suffer from undernutrition, according to the Collective against undernutrition. In particular elderly people, who no longer have the strength to cook, who eat poorly or no longer eat as much as they should. Or people being treated for cancer, whose nausea prevents them from eating.
Pauline Renard has seen how this disease can gnaw at those who are affected by it. His grandfathers died of cancer. “I saw them gradually losing weight, resisting treatments less and less,” says this Montpellier resident. None of the food supplements, which the doctors prescribed to them, satisfied them, she continues. “They ate without envy, grimacing,” she says.
“Pleasure” and high-performance products
It is to help these people rediscover the taste for food that Pauline Renard created La Picorée. This company has launched the P’tits Pep’s, a range of mini-cakes, high in protein and high in calories, capable of remedying the deficiencies of patients. And above all, these cakes are very good. Unlike most food supplements, creams or drinks, offered in hospitals or pharmacies.
“We realized that nearly 50% of patients do not consume them, because of their tastes, their textures or their very medicalized formats, continues the Montpellier entrepreneur. My idea was to offer an alternative to these products, more gourmet and more natural. “Pleasure” products that obviously provide what is needed in terms of protein and calories. »
La Picorée has launched, for the moment, since September, two varieties on the market: mini-cakes with vanilla and almonds and mini-cakes with tomato and Provençal herbs. In the spring, the Montpellier company will offer new little cakes, flavored with lemon and chocolate and hazelnut.
“Giving back the desire to eat” to patients
Of course, patients must consume these products in addition to their diet. They can also combine these mini-cakes with nutritional supplements. But they must specify to their doctor that they are starting this cure. In 2022, Picorée cakes were tested by elderly people with cancer at the Montpellier Cancer Institute (ICM). And the results have been very positive. “Fighting malnutrition is not just about providing a nutritional performance solution,” notes Pierre Senesse, doctor and support care coordinator at the ICM. We must restore the desire to eat with appetizing, gourmet and less medicalized products. But we must also provide a healthy, responsible and reassuring solution for the good of our patients and the planet. This is the objective of Pauline Renard, with La Picorée. Another test on several dozen patients has been carried out in recent weeks at the Montpellier University Hospital. The results, currently being analysed, once again look positive.
La Picorée mini-cakes are sold for just over eight euros a pack. For the moment, in a dozen pharmacies in Montpellier and Aix-en-Provence, and in medical equipment shops. The young company, launched in September, hopes to be eligible for reimbursement by Social Security by 2025.