Take a peanut-based paste packed with 500 calories and nearly 13 grams of protein. Store it in a 92-gram foil pouch, so it can be easily sucked by starving infants on the front line. No water or refrigeration is required, meaning it can be distributed in drought-hit areas and stored at ambient temperature for up to two years. Just a couple of daily sachets can lead to a 10 percent weight gain over six weeks, sustaining recovery from severe acute malnutrition for less than $60 per child. Saving a life, it turns out, literally costs peanuts: just 71 cents a serving.
This life-saving mixture is Plumpy’Nut. Developed by Normandy-based manufacturer Nutriset in 1996 by French paediatrician André Briend, it was the first ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF): energy-dense pastes that have boosted survival rates of severe acute malnutrition in children from less than 25 per cent to around 90 percent.
The paste has saved tens of millions of lives. “It’s incredibly effective emergency food,” says medical doctor Steve Collins, founder of advocacy group Valid Nutrition. “RUTF contains all the essential nutrients required for someone to recover from severe acute malnutrition. They’re easy to transport, extremely energy dense, and don’t require a cold supply chain or clean water to work.”
While Nutriset’s product was the first RUTF to be developed, it is not the only brand in this important field. Mana, for example, is an American-made RUTF produced in Fitzgerald, Georgia. The company states it can make 500,000 pounds of product per day—enough to fill four shipping containers, and feed 10 million children per year.
Before Plumpy’Nut, cases of severe acute malnutrition—primarily occurring among children under 5 years old, diagnosed by very low weight-for-height scores and arm circumference—needed round-the-clock care at therapeutic feeding centres. Nurses at these makeshift hospitals in often remote areas would feed infants F100, a high-energy milk powder also made by Nutriset. Bacteria was often rife. “There was always a risk that water was contaminated and carried disease,” says Collins. It’s one of the reasons why mortality rates for in-patient care lurked at around 20 percent.
Over half of Plumpy’Nut is made from peanut paste and vegetable oils. The nutty primary base contains fat-soluble nutrients, as well as protein, energy, and fatty acids that spark recovery. Nearly a quarter is skimmed milk powder, containing dairy protein and essential amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Another quarter is reserved for sugar—masking the taste of the added micronutrients: potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, iodine, copper, selenium, and vitamins A, D, E, B complex, C, and K.
The apocryphal story is that Briend’s idea for the marvel that is Plumpy’Nut came from a jar of Nutella. In reality, it came from firsthand experience on the front line in the Sahel: The water-based solution wasn’t working—infants were still dying. Working with Nutriset founder Michel Lescanne, his idea was to add F100 to a spread of peanuts (a common crop in areas of malnutrition and a natural protein-rich source) with oil and sugar.
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![Believe It: ‘Naruto’ Gets In On the Anime Trading Card Game Craze
The Naruto anime turns 25 next year, and to mark the occasion, it’s getting a new trading card game. Developed by Bandai Card Games, the TCG will be a strategy-focused experience for the competitive-minded folk. Along with the big anniversary milestone, this’ll be the franchise’s first dip into the trading card waters since the early 2010s. Since then, Bandai’s been gradually putting out similar games for popular shonen like Digimon, One Piece, and Dragon Ball. As a member of the Big Three and important to shonen culture, it makes sense Naruto gets a fresh game. In a brief statement, Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto expressed joy at his franchise “growing larger once again. I truly hope these cards find their way to both their hands and your hearts.” Kishimoto also drew artwork for the TCG featuring the teen versions of Boruto’s dad and his longtime best bud Sasuke Uchiha, and they’re the stars of the trailer below. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MefaL2fKvzk[/embed] Bandai’s keeping mum for now on how Naruto Card Game plays or even what characters will be in it. Details will be revealed at Gen Con Indy, where attendees will also get to play it for themselves. The annual tabletop game convention runs from July 30-August 2 this year, and playtests will run during the whole event. Each one-hour session is free, and you can get tickets here. If you can’t make it, then you’ll surely see more of it before the TCG hits stores in 2027. It’s probably not the only thing being cooked up to honor the anime—after all, Pierrot never did release those four brand-new episodes to celebrate the 20th anniversary. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Naruto #Anime #Trading #Card #Game #CrazeBandai,Naruto,Trading Cards Believe It: ‘Naruto’ Gets In On the Anime Trading Card Game Craze
The Naruto anime turns 25 next year, and to mark the occasion, it’s getting a new trading card game. Developed by Bandai Card Games, the TCG will be a strategy-focused experience for the competitive-minded folk. Along with the big anniversary milestone, this’ll be the franchise’s first dip into the trading card waters since the early 2010s. Since then, Bandai’s been gradually putting out similar games for popular shonen like Digimon, One Piece, and Dragon Ball. As a member of the Big Three and important to shonen culture, it makes sense Naruto gets a fresh game. In a brief statement, Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto expressed joy at his franchise “growing larger once again. I truly hope these cards find their way to both their hands and your hearts.” Kishimoto also drew artwork for the TCG featuring the teen versions of Boruto’s dad and his longtime best bud Sasuke Uchiha, and they’re the stars of the trailer below. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MefaL2fKvzk[/embed] Bandai’s keeping mum for now on how Naruto Card Game plays or even what characters will be in it. Details will be revealed at Gen Con Indy, where attendees will also get to play it for themselves. The annual tabletop game convention runs from July 30-August 2 this year, and playtests will run during the whole event. Each one-hour session is free, and you can get tickets here. If you can’t make it, then you’ll surely see more of it before the TCG hits stores in 2027. It’s probably not the only thing being cooked up to honor the anime—after all, Pierrot never did release those four brand-new episodes to celebrate the 20th anniversary. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Naruto #Anime #Trading #Card #Game #CrazeBandai,Naruto,Trading Cards](https://gizmodo.com/app/uploads/2026/06/naruto-tcg-hed-1280x853.jpg)

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