It really should come as no surprise that children who get adequate nutrition grow up to be smarter, taller and healthier than those who do not.

This is because the daily dose of vitamins and minerals has a profound effect on how the brain and body develop. A severe lack in one vital nutrient will lead to a host of conditions, including blindness and stunted physical and mental growth.

Iron is one such vital nutrient that affects mental development.

Unfortunately, as many as two of five Filipino children aged 6 to 12 do not have enough of it, according to the 2003 National Nutrition Survey conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (FNRI-DOST).

As a result, these children with iron deficiency anemia face the real possibility that they would not do well in school and in life because of their impaired learning capabilities.

The Coca-Cola Company in the Philippines came across these alarming results and decided to contribute to the effort to reduce the incidence of iron deficiency anemia among Filipino children.

One of the ways to solve iron deficiency is to fortify the diet, which means adding vitamins and minerals to frequently consumed food.

The beverage giant is in a position to help because, as far as fortification goes, beverages are an ideal vehicle to carry the additional vitamins and minerals. Children love them, thus making it easy to administer the important nutrient.

Maria Cindy Ching-Lim, corporate reputation manager of the Philippine business unit of Coca-Cola, said the company initiated discussions with the FNRI-DOST on the development of an anti-anemia beverage. The result was Nutrijuice, an orange juice drink fortified with not just iron, but also zinc, lysine and vitamins A and C.

Lim told the Inquirer that it took two years of research and development before Coca-Cola finally introduced Nutrijuice, one of its latest corporate social responsibility projects.

The first thing Coca-Cola and FNRI-DOST had to do was to come up with a beverage that children would actually drink considering that iron can be easily detected, especially among children with sensitive taste buds.

And since they were already working on fortifying the drink with iron, it was easy to add other important vitamins and minerals that did not affect the taste profile. These include zinc, which enhances the immune system, and lysine, which promotes growth.

To test the efficacy of the drink, Coca-Cola and FNRI-DOST conducted in 2006 a pilot study among schoolchildren in the Pinaglabanan of San Juan in Metro Manila who drank a pouch of Nutrijuice every day for 100 days.

Data were recorded and, at the end of 100 days, Coca-Cola and FNRI-DOST were heartened by the significant improvement in the hemoglobin levels among iron-depleted children.

Coca-Cola concluded at the end of the study that Nutrijuice increased the weight and height of both anemic and underweight children and reduced anemia prevalence among iron-depleted children.

These results led to Coca-Cola?s decision to formally launch Nutrijuice in July 2007, which was followed by the distribution of free Nutrijuice to 5,000 schoolchildren in 17 schools for the entire 2008-2009 school year in Quirino province.