Elaine has brought up a topic that we have discussed in the past. Fats in
breastmilk are highly variable from woman to woman. Diet can affect the
composition of the fats in breastmilk, however it does not explain all of the
inter-individual variations. There is no evidence on the long term effect of maternal
supplementation with DHA and in fact, increasing supplementation of mothers has
no effect on infants DHA levels if a level of 0.8% has been reached. This
means that higher levels of DHA do not result in higher levels of DHA stores or
improved function in the infant once this level is already present. DHA levels
are a saturable curve. Mothers are wasting their money if they believe
Martek's hype about their supposed "milk deficiency." Breast milk always contains DHA
and ARA. The percentage of total fat contributed by DHA declines over time
but not the absolute amount in milk. DHA and ARA are always there and there is
no evidence that breastfed infants are at any risk for fatty acid deficiency.

Also, I must mention that breastmilk does not contain Lipil components. Lipil
is the brand name that Mead Johnson has given to the blend of DHA and ARA
that they purchase from Martek. These components are derived from fermented
microalgae and soil fungus and do not resemble human DHA and ARA as they are
carried differently on the triglyceride molecule. This is why the manufactured
versions will never be the same as the real ones. Jane Heinig spoke on this subject
at the ILCA conference this past summer and has a very good independent study
module that is quite well done - http://lactation.ucdavis.edu.

Formulas are not lipilized and I hope we do not encourage the use of a
marketing term created by a formula company to persuade mothers that their milk is
deficient or that infant formula is somehow similar to breastmilk.

Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA


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