Look what I found at:

http://www.pathfinder.com:80/living/latest/RB/1998Feb02/798.html

********

Fortified Baby Formula Boosts
                 Immunity

                 NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Infant formula fortified with
                 nucleotides -- fragments of DNA -- can boost a baby's
                 developing immune system, a new study suggests.

                 According to a report in this week's issue of the
journal Pediatrics, ``nucleotides are one of the components of
human milk that have been identified as affecting immune
function.''

                 The new findings are based on the levels of
infection-fighting antibodies developed by infants after they received
the
standard series of vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus,
Haemophilus influenza b (Hib), and polio.

                 Compared with infants fed a protein-based milk formula,

                 those fed the same formula fortified with nucleotides
had significantly higher levels of antibodies against
diphtheria and Hib.

                 ``The significantly higher Hib antibody response in the

nucleotide group persisted at 12 months,'' say
researchers led by Dr. Larry K. Pickering of Eastern Virginia
Medical School in Norfolk. ``The antibody responses to tetanus
and OPV (oral polio vaccine) were not enhanced by nucleotide
fortification.''

                 Pickering and his colleagues also found an ``effect of
                 breastfeeding on immune response.'' At six months of
age,  infants who had been breast-fed had significantly higher
levels of antibody to polio virus than either of the two
formula-fed  groups.

                 The researchers also report another benefit from
nucleotides. ``The results showed that the ingestion of
nucleotide-fortified  formula or human milk was associated with a
significant
decrease in the incidence of diarrhea,'' compared with
the rate of diarrhea in the group who consumed formula not
  fortified with nucleotides. These findings confirm
previous  studies showing that human milk is effective in
preventing diarrhea.

                 The researchers note that all 311 babies in the
one-year
study were healthy and that their growth rates were similar.

                 SOURCE: Pediatrics (1998;101:242-249)

                 Reut18:55 02-02-98

                 (02 Feb 1998 18:55 EST)
******



--
Andrea Eastman, MA, CCE
Granville, Ohio
mailto:[log in to unmask]

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