Dear USBC representative,

I am pleased that the United States Breastfeeding Committee made a
statement
http://www.usbreastfeeding.org/NewsInformation/NewsRoom/201002PreventingObesityBeginsatBirth/tabid/169/Default.aspx
February
11 related to the recent laudable obesity prevention initiative by First
Lady Michelle Obama.

It is essential for the USBC to guard against cultural bias and adhere
closely to scientific protocol when issuing such statements.  Breastfeeding
is not the experiment -- as the physiologic norm, it is the control.  The
status of artificial feeding as the cultural norm in the United States does
not mean that the USBC can fail to clarify that physiologically (and
therefore scientifically speaking), ARTIFICIAL feeding causes INCREASED risk
of:

   - For the child: ear, skin, stomach, and respiratory infections,
   diarrhea, sudden infant death syndrome, and necrotizing enterocolitis; and
   in the longer term, obesity, type 1 and 2 diabetes, asthma, and childhood
   leukemia.
   - For the mother: breast cancer, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and
   postpartum depression.

Dr. Meek's quotations in the USBC statement switch from the physiologic to
the cultural perspective.  Relative to normal feeding, even partial formula
feeding has been shown to increase the risk of obesity.

It is also important, especially in the context of obesity prevention, to
integrate the delivery system into the assessment of infant feeding methods.
 Future statements should clarify that breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding of
breast milk needs to be much more extensively studied for the effect of mode
of delivery on a young human's development of appetite control.

Sincerely,

Ruth Piatak, BA, MS, La Leche League Leader

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