Thanks to everyone who joined Parapharma Tech / Gelmix at the 2013 AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) National Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, FL last month. Our team stayed busy at the AAP Expo booth answering questions and providing Gelmix samples to hundreds of doctors nationwide.
The drawing feature of our booth included two “chocolate” fountains, but there wasn’t any chocolate flowing through them! Instead we showed the difference between thickening with clumpy rice cereal and with smooth flowing Gelmix. Parents and pediatrician’s love how the odorless and tasteless Gelmix dissolves completely into liquids resulting in a smooth, easy to flow texture!
Our team also provided a demonstration on how much Gelmix it takes to thicken a week’s worth of breast milk or formula, compared to rice cereal. Doctors often recommend 1 tablespoon of rice cereal to thicken every ounce of breast milk and formula – that adds up to an unhealthy amount of calories added to an infant’s existing diet and displaces the nutritional balance of breast milk and formula. Consider this, each tablespoon of rice cereal adds 15 calories, when 1 ounce of breast milk contains only about 20 calories!
It only takes 1 scoop (1.2g) of Gelmix to thicken 3 ounces of breast milk or formula (That’s less than a quarter of a tablespoon!) Each scoop only contains 4.4 calories and thickens 3 ounces, resulting in a very low displacement of the infant’s existing diet!
Pediatricians were particularly interested in Gelmix for its ability to thicken breast milk effectively. Rice cereal and oatmeal contain starches that are broken down by the amylase in breast milk, and within minutes, turn into glucose molecules as its digested and losing thickness. The main ingredient of Gelmix, carob bean gum, is not broken down by maternal amylase, so maintains its thickening properties as it is digested!
We also talked to many speech language pathologists (SLP), who are increasingly using Gelmix to thicken liquids for dysphagia. Gelmix effectively thickens liquids to nectar thick and light honey thick, and SLPs praised the hypoallergenic properties of Gelmix. Unlike other thickeners, Gelmix does not contain common allergens such as soy, corn, wheat, gluten, whey, casein or lactose.
Check out the Gelmix Expo Video below!
