18/06/2026
🌱❤️ What if a greenhouse crop could help give kidney patients more freedom?
Around 7,000 people in the Netherlands rely on haemodialysis. For many, treatment means frequent visits to a clinic and organising daily life around medical appointments.
A new portable home dialysis device could help change that. Surprisingly, one of its essential components comes from an unlikely source: the jack bean.
Researchers at Wageningen University & Research have shown that this tropical crop can be successfully grown in the Netherlands. The beans contain an enzyme needed to clean and reuse dialysis fluid, helping create a more local and reliable supply for the device’s filters.
The research is a powerful example of how agriculture, health, and technology can come together to create real-world impact.
A kidney patient taking part in a trial said the device allowed him and his wife to go away together for a weekend for the first time in years. Sometimes innovation is not only about technology. It is about giving people back a little more freedom.