I just downloaded an electronic article from the January 1999 issue of
Pediatrics. I have enormous respect for this journal but was more than a
little dismayed by this "study" and I use that term loosly, entitled Formula
Tolerance in Postbreastfed and Exclusively Formula-fed Infants. The article
comes directly from Ross Labs and talks about how its formula produces stool
characteristics "similar to the stool pattern in the exclusively breastfed
infant. Thus, the use of Formula A may ease the transition from breast milk to
formula feeding and ameliorate parents' perception that constipation is
associated with iron-fortified formula."

We now know that this article will be seen in all future ads for the product,
it assumes that breastfed babies all get changed to formula at some time, and
is one of the worst designed and confusing pieces of nonsense that I have seen
lately. What a waste of journal space.

Be prepared to have this thing quoted by your colleagues and pushed to
parents. What a way to start the new year. The address is:
http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/103/1/e7

Marsha Walker
Weston, Massachusetts