Two new publications from the Cochrane Library found that "Routine supplementation of milk formula with long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids to improve physical, neurodevelopmental or visual outcomes of infant born at term cannot be recommended based on the current evidence." They found no proven benefit in the 1719 infants involved in high quality?randomized clinical trials. The same was found for preterm infants fed these formulas.

Simmer K, Patole S, Rao S. 




Longchain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation in infants born at term.

Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Jan 23;(1):CD000376. 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18253974?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Simmer K, Schulzke S, Patole S. 




Longchain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation in preterm infants.

Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Jan 23;(1):CD000375. 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18253973?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Add these to the recent report "Replacing mother-imitating human breast milk in the laboratory" from the Cornucopia Institute http://cornucopia.org/index.php/replacing-mother-infant-formula-report/?and we have a marketing coup of huge monetary proportions. This is what prompted NABA to join the Cornucopia Institute in petitioning the FDA to require warning labels on infant formula and asking?the FTC to investigate the advertising of these products. If you have not already done so, please take a few minutes to send a letter to both the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission requesting that action be taken on these issues. Visit the above website to see the petitions and a sample letter. Parents, policy makers, and clinicians are being misled. 

What prompted this post was an email I received from an angry mother over the Ban the Bags issue. She told me that she compared breastfeeding to the "carefully crafted" infant formulas on the market. Since she had to return to work soon after her baby was born she decided that she would give breastfeeding a try (and lasted only 8 days, no surprise), wound up having to use the formula that was just like mother's milk anyway (which was in the hospital discharge bag), and how happy she was that her baby would be receiving the SAME nutrients as in breast milk. ARG!

Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA






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