“Treats for health”
What started as an adventure turned into a lifelong project
Life has its own way of surprising us and turning our lives around. Medicine and nutrition have come a long way in today’s world and people are discovering new ways to achieve a healthy lifestyle every day.
What continues to inspire, however, is the vastness of this field and the people who are working behind the scenes to bring us new solutions, products, services, and discoveries to make life better. The research being done in the nutrition field is truly a sector of innovation and will only continue to surprise us in the future. One such innovation is New Treat Nutrition, a business invested in finding ways to add well-rounded nutrition to everyday meals.
What started as an interest for Scheherzade (Shahrzad) Rayat, MD, PhD, turned into a venture called New Treat Nutrition. With an interest to be on the front line, Rayat started her journey by studying biomedical engineering in Singapore.
Rayat had a choice between studying in London and Singapore, and ultimately went all in for Singapore. Rayat said this was because “they were more friendly, easier to apply, and process because they wanted me. Then I wanted to move on to London but somehow, they kept me there.”
Rayat said, “The original problems in medicine come from nutrition. If we want to do any prevention, we need to start early by correcting our nutrition.” She found that despite living a healthy life and maintaining the right oral hygiene, her child faced tooth decay.
This interesting turn of events made her wonder why things were the way they were, and how to prevent it. This led to her launching her venture, New Treat Nutrition.
Rayat describes her mission on the New Treat Nutrition website, writing, “I looked for a natural way to include more nutrition within family food and treats. In doing so, I rediscovered the old method of fermentation, which seemed to hold the solution to all the deficiencies that I was looking at.”
Rayat started “a line of treats for the treatment of nutritional deficiencies that used natural food instead of supplements.” She goes on to say the idea “was born with the hope to provide simple natural nutrition for all children.”
Rayat found a gap in nutrition for children and found that while adults have healthy alternatives of protein and other choices in their diet, children, on the other hand, are very limited. She studied and learned how the nutrition required for the development of skeleton and teeth is not only calcium and vitamin D3 but also K2. This revelation changed her perspective and lead to her releasing her line of products and recipes.
Rayat mentioned about the approach of treating acute cause and chronic cause of diseases and how doctors approach it differently. As nutrition is not given enough attention and doctors usually recommend eating healthy without going into specifics, Rayat describes that most of the cause of a disease lies in treating the nutrition.
“In [the] case of tooth decay, for example, maybe my son had a Halloween treat and some of it got stuck on his teeth and that’s what happened. I would guess that this would have been the problem. But this is a secondary problem. The primary problem is that there is not enough vitamin K2 in our diet. That causes the teeth to be more susceptible to the secondary cause,” Rayat explained. Rayat described Vitamin K2 as “Vitamin X”, which helps calcium to get into our bones and skeletal system.
Rayat described a study conducted by a dentist who travelled the world and concluded that “less hygienic” societies have better tooth health for their kids than the “more hygienic” societies. The “less hygienic” societies included those of lower socioeconomic statuses. This led to a question of whether consuming original foods was better for oral health, or if processed and sugary foods commonly found in countries with higher socioeconomic status were the root cause for poor oral health.
“The idea comes from treats, especially for children. You can give them similar treats that have nutrition in them […] then they are going to be healthier and stronger,” continued Rayat about her idea of “Treats for Health.” Providing children with treats that help them stay active even if they are prone to injuries and getting hurt during childhood will help parents prevent their kids from becoming weak.
She also talked about the feedback that she has been getting from parents who have used her product and mentioned how they look forward to buying it from her. Her product – Flick Flick – is New Treat Nutrition’s first New Treat and has a variety of uses.
Flick Flick can replace salt and be used as toppings on popcorn, snacks, salads, etc. It is intended as a way to add extra nutrition to one’s meals.
With the mantra, “serve the children,” Rayat, being a mom, is doing her part in the world by continuing to expand her venture of New Treat Nutrition. Her website also has different blogs and knowledge, including information about Vitamin C and a list of different vegetables and fruits that contain significant amounts of Vitamin C.
“My drive is to have prevention, and prevention starts early. To create healthy treats for children, have healthy children, and have a healthy future… that is my drive,” said Rayat.
People like Rayat are doing their part in the world by making it a better place for children. Finding her calling in biomedical engineering and founding New Treat Nutrition, she has successfully reflected the transformative power of addressing fundamental health challenges.
Her natural approach towards fulfilling her curiosity led her to rediscovering the need of Vitamin K2, which resulted in launching her product of Flick Flick. Providing healthier alternatives for all, Rayat has truly proven the rewards that personal interest and curiosity can bring forth.
