Enhanced milk helps boost kids' health

By JO-MARIE BROWN

Fortified milk formulas are better for toddlers than cow's milk because they help to prevent major childhood diseases, a Fonterra study has found.

The year-long clinical trial of milk powders that contain added vitamins, minerals and prebiotics reduced the rates of diarrhoea, pneumonia, measles, anaemia and other health problems among the 1200 Indian children taking part.

World Health Organisation statistics show diarrhoea and respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia are among the leading causes of sickness and death of young children worldwide.

The study's findings, reported at an international conference in Paris last night, have excited researchers who say the daily consumption of fortified milk is an easy and practical way of preventing illnesses in children aged 1 to 4.

Neither of the Fonterra products studied - Fernleaf 1+ with prebiotics or Fernleaf 1+ with Nutri-care - is available here.

Fonterra's international consumer goods business, New Zealand Milk, has been exporting the formulas to Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific for four years.

Health platform manager Joanne Todd said Fonterra was working with Mainland to add some of the formulas' ingredients to that company's Calci Kids milk and Meadow Fresh toddlers' yoghurts.

"We're seeing how we can fit those things into Mainland's liquid milk and yoghurt products that are more acceptable to New Zealanders [than powdered milk]."

During the study, children aged from 12 months to 36 months from a lower middle-class residential area in Sangam Vihar, India, were divided into four groups and drank at least two glasses of an assigned powdered milk every day for a year.

The group that drank Fernleaf 1+ with Nutri-care were 22 per cent better protected against diarrhoea, 32 per cent against severe respiratory infections and 88 per cent against measles.

The children's weight and height growth patterns also improved and they appeared to require fewer antibiotics. The other formula, Fernleaf 1+ with prebiotics, showed similar results.

Todd said the two products were not designed to replace breast milk but were suitable for children aged 1 year and over who would otherwise begin drinking cow's milk.

La Leche League director Rosemary Gordon said the breastfeeding support group recommended its members breastfeed their babies at least until their second birthday.

"It's the milk that's designed specifically for human babies. It's the perfect balance of nutrients and protection against various infections and illnesses.

"I'm sure Fonterra, with all their marvellous technology, haven't managed to duplicate breastmilk."