What does DHA, egg yolks, baby foods, research, and a patent application have in common? Nope-no patridge in a pear tree. HM...let's think about it. Yep you got it! Eileen Birch and Dennis R. Hoffman. Birch and Hoffman have done the research that has been somewhat instrumental in the current drive for DHA in infant formula. Now we can have it in our baby foods through the use of egg yolks (particularly eggs from chickens who are fed a DHA-supplemented diet of marine algae brought to you by Martek). We have to salute these researchers for their creative vision and business acuity. Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC http://www.uspto.gov/patft.index.html Patent application 20040091599 "Baby food compositions enhancing visual acity and methods therefor" Inventors: Theurer, Richard C.; (Raleigh, NC);Birch, Eileen E.;(Dallas, TX); Hoffman, Dennis R.;(Dallas, TX); Shaul, Gerald E.;(Canajoharie, NY); Rocklin, Terry L.; (Fort Plain, NY); Cool, Mary Beth; (Canajoharie, NY); San Fanandre, Virgina A.;(Canajoharie, NY); Harvey, Robert A.; (St. Johnsville, NY) Filed: November 6, 2003 "[0006] DHA in an infant's diet promotes visual development and leads to enhanced visual acuity. DHA can be provided to breast-fed infants through their mother's milk, which contains a full-complement of both .omega.-6 and .omega.-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (Hoffman et al, 1993, supra; Makrides et al., 1995, supra; Innis et al, Am. J Clin. Nutr 60:347-352, 1994). The concentration of DHA in breast milk can, however, vary depending upon the mother's diet and in addition, many infants are not breast-fed or are breast-fed only for a few weeks and must rely on infant formula and solid baby food for their nutritional requirements. In the past, infant formulas sold in the United States have not contained DHA (Jensen et al., J. Pediatr. 131:200-209, 1997). Nevertheless, feeding an infant a formula supplemented with DHA and arachidonic acid after weaning from breast feeding, has been shown to improve visual acuity (see Birch et al, Am. J. Clin. Nutr 75:570-580, 2002; Hoffman et al., J. Pediatr. 142:669-677, 2003). Semi-solid foods fed to babies have little or no DHA. Intake of fat from such solid foods does not increase plasma DHA levels as does breast feeding (Luukkainen et al., J. Pediatr. Gastroenterol. Nutr. 23: 229-234, 1996)." *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html