Hematogen

{{Short description|Nutrition bar containing cow's blood}}

File:Батончики гематогену.jpg

Hematogen ({{langx|ru|Гематоген}}) is a nutrition bar which is notable in that one of its main ingredients is serum albumin, from cow's blood. It was popular in the former Soviet Union.{{cite news |last=Hay |first=Mark |title=How Russia Fell In Love With Candy Bars Made of Blood|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-russia-fell-in-love-with-candy-bars-made-of-blood/ |work=Vice |date=29 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102015154/https://www.vice.com/en/article/bjqqz5/how-russia-fell-in-love-with-candy-bars-made-of-blood |archive-date=2 January 2022 |url-status=live|quote=Its [the candy bar's] iron, which prevents anemia, came from black food albumin — a technical term for blood}} Chocolate is frequently mixed within it.{{cite book |last1=Greene |first1=Samuel |last2=Robertson |first2=Graeme |title=Putin Vs. the People: The Perilous Politics of a Divided Russia |date=2019 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780300245059 |page=196}} Other ingredients may vary, but they usually contain sugar, condensed milk and vanillin.

It is often considered to be a medicinal product, and is used to treat or prevent low blood levels of iron and vitamin B12 (e.g., for anemia or during pregnancy).{{cite web |url=https://www.webapteka.ru/drugbase/name1465.html |title=Гематоген |website=WebApteka |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102015205/https://www.webapteka.ru/drugbase/name1465.html |archive-date=2 January 2022 |url-status=live}} In the Soviet Union, it was available over-the-counter. They are still sold in Russia, Moldova, Belarus,{{cite web |title=Belarus pubs urged to sell cow-blood snacks |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-37409133|website=BBC |access-date=11 August 2024}} Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}