Cornell studies lead the way to commercial production of fortified drink for children in developing world

A fortified, orange-flavored powdered drink, tested in Tanzania by Cornell University researchers who found it can significantly help improve children's nutrition and growth, has been launched as a commercial product by Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) in the Philippines.

The drink can boost the diets of millions of children and others in the developing world, having the same effect in significantly reducing multiple nutritional deficiencies and improving height and weight as megadoses of nutrients and vitamin pills, says Michael C. Latham, professor of international nutrition at Cornell. He found, for example, that children in East Africa who drank the beverage for six months gained almost twice as much weight and gained 26 percent more in height compared with children who did not receive the drink.

Latham, a professor, physician and former director of Cornell's Program in International Nutrition for 25 years, together with UNICEF and the Micronutrient Initiative, asked P&G to develop such a drink in the early 1990s. Latham tested it in Tanzania, presented the research to the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology in 1998 and subsequently encouraged P&G to make the drink commercially available. Latham estimates it will cost between three and five cents a serving.

Called NutriDelight with GrowthPlus, the drink is a patented source of iron, vitamin A and iodine. In the Philippines Latham is working closely with UNICEF and several public health groups to help reduce malnutrition.

"The beverage supplement is very popular with the children and provides a simple approach that can be administered easily by mothers without any medical intervention," says Latham.

The drink is prepared by mixing about two tablespoons of powder in a glass of water; it is fortified with 10 vitamins and minerals and provides 30 percent to 120 percent of the U.S. recommended daily dietary allowances. The concentration of the nutrients is based on levels of deficiencies in Tanzania and other African countries that authorities in the Philippines agreed is appropriate for their country as well.

The Cornell study was assisted by Cornell statistician Edward Frongillo, former Cornell graduate student Deborah Ash (Ph.D. '99) and several Tanzanian scientists, including Godwin Ndossi, who earned his doctorate at Cornell in 1992. Ndossi was supported by the Bryceson Fellowship at Cornell, named for Derek Bryceson, the late husband of primate researcher Jane Goodall, who lives in Tanzania and is an A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell.

"One of our concerns is whether poor people will, in fact, purchase the product and use it," says Latham. "It is not only aimed at children but can surely benefit women of child-bearing age including pregnant women, although we are now studying this in Tanzania." He said P&G is funding community nutrition projects in the Philippines, including nutrition education and encouragement in the use of the product. Under Dr. Meera Shekar (Cornell Ph.D. '90), who worked with Latham as a graduate student and is now head of the Health and Nutrition Section of UNICEF in Manila, UNICEF is collaborating on the community nutrition projects and will be evaluating whether the product is reaching needy families.

Latham currently is in the middle of a two-year study funded by the Micronutrient Initiative of Canada to determine the nutritional effectiveness of the same drink for pregnant and lactating women in developing countries. Like the earlier work, this is collaborative research involving the Tanzanian Food and Nutrition Centre and Cornell.

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