Nerunerunerune candy designed for taking medicine wins top honors at product awards

A spoonful of Nerunerunerune helps the medicine go dowowowown.

The candy Nerunerunerune has been loved by children in Japan since the 1980s for its combination of sweet-tasting goo and the wonder of scientific discovery. By mixing various packets of powder with water and each other, kids are whisked away on a tour of sights and tastes from fresh-picked strawberry to wine grapes.

And if that weren’t enough, it’s now the proud recipient of the Best Award at the 2023 Nikkei Excellent Products and Services Awards which honors excellence in product development. This is the 42nd year this award has been given out, so it might seem strange that a 38-year-old candy is winning it now, but the reason is that a whole new use for it has been found.

Image: PR Times

Late last year the makers at Kracie came out with Medicine Gobble Neruneru (“Okusuri Pakutto Neruneru” in Japanese). This product is almost identical to regular Nerunerune except that it’s specially designed to be mixed with medicine to make it easier to take.

In Japan, many people prefer to get cold and flu medicines from pharmacies and there they often come in powdered form. As you might imagine, many kids have trouble swallowing a pile of bitter powder, when mixed in with Nerunerunerune powders and their delightful flavors such as melon soda and strawberry, the taste of the medicine is virtually undetectable. 

▼ The candy in its raw form even looks a lot like powdered medicine.

Image: © SoraNews24

Kracie came up with the idea when they learned that medical professionals have been using Nerunerunerune to help kids take their medicine for years. They then conducted research with the National Center for Child Health and Development and found that mixing medicine with the candy doesn’t interfere with its efficacy. 

Other slight changes were made such as removing the calcium fortification that likely came from the egg components which were also done away with to make the product allergen-free. Also, the portion size has been reduced to one-third a normal serving of Nerunerunerune. This is so it’s less troublesome to prepare and also to ensure the child doesn’t get full before they eat all the medicine inside.

▼ A normal-sized serving of Nerunerunerune

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Medicine Gobble Neruneru was chosen by a panel of judges for scoring highly in the six criteria of technological development potential, price effectiveness, contribution to business performance, growth potential, originality, and impact on industry and society. 

It’s definitely an original idea that can expand the market of Nerunerunerune and could even have applications for seniors who need to take medicine regularly and have been known to have difficulties swallowing. Hopefully, other candy makers will follow suit and I can finally get those M&M painkillers I’ve been dreaming of.

Source: PR Times
Featured image: PR Times
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