Dear Editor,
        If you want to raise a race horse that can win the Triple Crown, you
don't put him out to feed in a weedy pasture.  If you want your Maserati to
win the Indy 500, you don't fill up the gas tank at the local E-Z Mart with
the lowest octane gas you can find.  If you want your child's brain to
develop optimally, even *normally,* you don't feed it artificial infant
formula made from cows' milk or soy or corn.  On the contrary, if you want
not only what's best, but what's *normal* for your child, you provide breast
milk, via breastfeeding, for at least the first two years of life, and
preferably longer.  Human breast milk is a complex, living, ever-changing
fluid that has been designed (whether you believe by evolution or by God, it
matters not) to provide what the human child requires for optimal outcomes.
There have been a number of studies showing that the use of artificial
infant formulas lowers cognitive and visual acuity scores.  Recent research
suggests that long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs), the
omega-3s, docosahexanoic and arachidonic acid, play critical roles in brain
growth and retinal development.  These LC-PUFAs are found in human breast
milk and completely missing in formula.  That's why the infant formula
companies are scrambling to add them to their products.  But even a perfect
formula, offered in a bottle, would be a poor substitute for the
multi-sensorial experience of breastfeeding, where the child can feel the
warmth of its mother's body, smell her unique smell, hear her heartbeat and
her voice, see her face, and engage in social interaction with her.  The
very best day care in the world, and foreign language classes starting in
kindergarten, are not going to make up for missing out on this most
fundamental of human relationships.
        Your article missed the most important factor in discussing what is
necessary for a child to develop to the full potential granted by its
genetic heritage: breast milk and breastfeeding.

Sincerely,



Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology and Nutrition
Texas A&M University
Co-editor of "Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives"
Winner of the Margaret Mead Award, 1995, for "Dancing Skeletons: Life and
Death in West Africa"