Meet the Sacramento Startup Tackling the Hidden Hunger of Vitamin A Deficiency

Sacramento Startup Profile: Founder of The Redmelon Company, Le Thuy Vuong, M.B.A., Ph.D.

As a PhD student at UC Davis, Le Thuy Vuong focused her thesis on Vitamin A deficiency, an all too common problem in children of developing countries which is also linked to iron deficiency. Le refers to this malnutrition as a “hidden hunger,” preventing children from growing normally and to their full potential. She was looking for a sustainable food-based solution and while in northern Vietnam found that a fruit indigenous to her native country really stood out with the potential to make a large impact on Vitamin A deficiency. She gave the fruit an English name, Red Melon and developed a method to extract the oil from the fruit so that it can be more easily used year-round.

I sat down with Le to hear this origin story, the launch of her startup The Redmelon Company, as well as how Sacramento’s FourthWave accelerator has helped her develop the business components of her startup. Watch the video or listen to the podcast below.