Anchor Growing Up Milk with Nutri-care™ Proven to Protect Against Common Childhood Illness

Summary

• A recent, large-scale study has shown that consumption of Anchor Growing Up Milk with Nutricare™, a fortified milk powder for children, improved the health of children by significantly reducing the incidence and duration of common childhood illnesses.
• The study, led by eminent researcher Professor Sunil Sazawal, was a randomised, controlled, double blind, community-based intervention involving one year of supplementation with Anchor Growing Up Milk with Nutricare™ to children aged 1-3 years.
• The nutrients used for fortification were zinc, iron, vitamins A, C and E, selenium and copper for their anti-oxidant and immuno-modulatory properties.
• Milk is a sustainable vehicle for delivering fortification to children due to its wide availability and acceptance.
• The study results have relevance to children throughout Asia and the Middle East as nutritional deficiencies and related childhood sicknesses from pneumonia and diarrhoea are a major concern across these regions.

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The Study

A recent study, published in the British Medical Journal,¹ has shown that fortification of Anchor Growing Up Milk with Nutricare™ is a practical intervention to improve the health among young children significantly by reducing the incidence of common childhood sicknesses. The study was led by principal investigator Professor Sunil Sazawal, who has more than 15 years of experience internationally in Pediatric trials and is well respected in this field. His team of researchers were highly skilled and have undertaken many important research projects including work for the World Health Organisation (WHO) and two National Institutes of Health (NIH-ROI) studies.

The study was specifically designed to meet a high standard for clinical research trials and therefore contained the following characteristics:

• Double blind to ensure there was no bias in the results
• Controlled to remove any 'placebo effect'
• Individually randomized
• Large scale - 633 children aged 1-3 years, this was calculated as the sample size necessary to attain statistically significant results
• Reproducible

The Intervention

The population in which the study was undertaken in was a peri-urban population living in well-constructed homes. All participants in the study received the study milk powders packaged in single serve sachets with advice to consume two to three sachets reconstituted (using previously boiled and cooled water) per day for one year. The intervention group received Anchor Growing Up Milk with Nutricare™ (milk powder that had been fortified with zinc, iron, selenium, copper and vitamins A, C and E). Table 1 shows the level of each nutrient per serve in Anchor 1+ with Nutricare™ . The control group received the same base milk powder without the fortification, therefore had natural levels of these nutrients as typically found in milk.

Zinc was added to the intervention formulation because of its key role in the immune system and its importance for growth and development. Likewise, Iron was added for its role in growth and development and for preventing iron deficiency anemia. The fortified milk also contained vitamin C to aid iron absorption and copper to counteract possible effects of increased zinc and iron on copper absorption. Selenium, vitamin A and vitamin E were also added as co-factors to zinc in anti-oxidant and immune effect.

Table 1:  Levels of Nutrients per Serve in Anchor 1+ with Nutricare™