Articles labeled: infant formula

While infant formula will never replicate breastmilk, Martek has released new studies that suggest that certain fortifications will reduce infections in formula fed babies:

22/10/2007 - Inclusion of prebiotic fibres in infant formula may cut the recurrence of infection during the first six-months of life by about 10 per cent, suggests new research.

Healthy term infants fed formula containing short chain galactooligosaccharides and long chain fructooligosaccharides (scGOS/lcFOS) also had a 6.5 per cent lower incidence of recurring respiratory infections than placebo-fed infants, according to a prospective, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

The study, published in the new issue of the Journal of Nutrition, adds to an ever-growing body of research reporting benefits fo the inclusion of prebiotics or probiotics in infant formula.

Hopefully the government will confirm the studies and politics and over-zealous breastfeeding advocates won’t get in the way of potentially making formula better.

Interesting.

The Lactivist community must be reeling from this news. I wonder how they’re gonna spin it.

TORONTO (CP) — The first ever randomized trial to look at the much debated question of whether breastfeeding protects an infant from developing asthma and allergies found that children who were breastfed as babies were not at a lower risk of developing these conditions.

In fact, children whose mothers were in the group urged to continue to breastfeed their children exclusively were more likely to test positive later for five common allergies - dust mites, cat dander, birch and grass pollens and fungi.