I was recently at a conference for nutritionists and breastfeeding helpers at which a formula company saleswoman gave a talk on its various products, many of which now contain DHA and ARA.  It was of course a sales pitch, and sure enough, with the new formula, babies' blood levels of DHA and ARA were similar to the blood levels of breastfed babies - as the speaker said, the gold standard.  Furthermore, the IQs of both groups at roughly 3 years weren't too far apart.  

But the table demonstrating all this didn't quite get covered in detail by the speaker.  There was also a *control* shown in the study that wasn't breastmilk.  It was simply labeled "control," *and wasn't discussed at all.*  Turns out (I asked afterwards) that the "control" was simply the original formula without DHA/ARA.

Now, if you're being expected to pay more than before for, say, a certain brand of air filter, do you want to hear that it filters the air really well... or that it filters the air better than the previous, less expensive model?  Well, in this particular table, the new formula *failed to perform significantly better than the old formula* on each of 3 developmental tests.  On 2 of the 3 tests it failed to perform quite as well as the old formula, though the differences were not considered significant.  

Huh?  No wonder it was labeled simply "control" and not "our previous and less expensive version".  

I talked to one of the salesmen later: By what measures does the new formula outperform the old, besides blood levels?  He wasn't sure.  Now, this was just one slide that I caught.  I can't say that the DHA/ARA version *doesn't* outperform the old formula in *some* way - maybe even in ways that they hoped it would - but wouldn't you think that if it did the salesman would have that information right at his fingertips and ready on his lips?  

Check the study yourself, as well as the outraged (and published) commentaries on it.  The study is Auestad et al.  Visual, Cognitive, and Language Assessments at 39 Months: A Follow-up Study of Children Fed Formulas Containing Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids to 1 Year of Age.  Pediatrics 2003; 112: e177-e183, available at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/112/3/e177.  The commentaries are at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/eletters/112/3/e177.

The public - including WIC - has bought into the new air filter, at a higher price and for no documented advantage.  How gullible can we be?  There it was on the screen, for all the world to see, almost certainly the best evidence they could muster.

And while I'm at it, the formula talk *began* with the saleswoman relating her own very positive breastfeeding experience, by way of reminding the group that, after all, breastfeeding is clearly the best choice of all.  Now, if the true purpose of the talk was simply to compare one formula to another while reinforcing that formula remains second-best... well, let's put it this way.  Suppose you were talking to a group of cardiologists about margarines, specifically about how one type has fewer trans fats than another and is thus preferable if someone insists on using margarine, but you genuinely want to decrease overall margarine sales in favor of, say, olive oil, would you *begin* your talk with a reminder that olive oil is healthier than either of the margarines under discussion, and is the only *truly* healthy choice under discussion... or would you *end* it with that?  I encouraged her to end with her personal story next time, since I was sure that her bottom line was to increase breastfeeding rates, not decrease them.  The saleswoman was very grateful for the suggestion...

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, Ithaca, NY, with no marketing experience at all... so what did I *miss*?

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