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norma

Norma Ritter, IBCLC, RLC
www.NormaRitter.com

>How Safe Are Infant Formulas?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/birgitta-lauren/how-safe-are-infant-formu_b_171512.html

Over the years, countless studies have shown that when it comes to
infant nutrition, breast milk is best. This remains true, as there is
simply no infant formula product on the market that can match the
superior nutrition of mother's milk. In addition, some formulas
contain ingredients that can be harmful to your baby.

Although some formula recipes have improved over time for mothers who
must rely on formula to feed their new baby, many products are full
with unhealthy and even harmful ingredients, making breastfeeding the
best way to go for new mothers who have the option.

The FDA recently announced that they will allow the chemical Melamine
in Baby Formulas a month after they announced it was not safe. The FDA
found trace amounts of the chemical Melamine (which has caused havoc
in Asia sickening and killing pets and children) in 2 products:
Nestlé's Good Start Supreme Infant formula with iron, and traces of
cyanuric acid in Infamil Formula Powder, Enfamil LIPIL with Iron from
Mead Johnson Nutritionals (Bristol Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals). Both
companies deny such findings in their own tests. The FDA now concludes
that these trace amounts do "not raise public health concerns." Yet,
Cadbury and Nestle have recalled candy made in China found to contain
Melamine, which is used to fake a higher protein content in milk
containing foods.

In reading ingredient labels of some infant formulas like Similac, you
may find "high fructose corn syrup", as high as the second ingredient.
Corn syrup has been found to increase risk of heart disease, obesity
and diabetes in children and adults. This could potentially be setting
up children for diseases from day one. Unfortunately a new Irish study
has found that 61 per cent of males and 40 per cent of females never
read the nutrition label before purchase, which may lead to uneducated
purchases. To make matters worse the journal Environmental Health say
in a study that Mercury has been found in 50% of the US supply of High
Fructose Corn Syrup. The US institute for Agriculture and Trade Police
also claims to have found mercury in 30% of foods with HFCS as the
first or second ingredient.

In addition formula companies are adding DHA and ARA's to some
formulas, from "plant sources", promoting them as:"supporting eye
development like the breastfed infants". This is a cause of great
concern as:

1. These "plant sourced" DHA's are extracted from fungus and algae via
a process requiring the use of the neurotoxin chemical Hexane (a
byproduct of petroleum refinement). (These are cheaper than fish oils,
taste better and can be pulverized for better product consistency.)
These DHA and ARA's are according to the Cornucopia Institute is
causing some babies to suffer from unexpected deaths and other
morbidities including diarrhea, flatulence, jaundice, and apnea among
infants who consumed formula supplemented with these long-chain
polyunsaturated fatty acids. Other long term effects are unknown.

2. Proper fetal and infant visual and brain development needs DHA and
EPA's in the natural balance it's found in fish, EPA's cannot be
man-made or extracted (yet).

3. Man has never been able to exactly replicate the nutritional
qualities and intricacies of breast milk. Infants are designed to
drink from their mother. They are not meant to have cow's milk or
anything other than mother's milk in their early lives. Only breast
milk contains what a healthy baby needs, including 160 fatty acids
that are not found in baby formula.

FDA scientists who reviewed these novel oils have never affirmed their
safety. Neither do they have legal power to stop the addition of
ingredients such as DHAsco and ARAsco, or to give approval or advice
for special ingredients in infant formula. But parents are urged to
report any adverse effects of the infant formula to the FDA.

We already know that infants who are not breastfed are at increased
risk of infectious diseases like meningitis, diarrhea, respiratory
tract infection, and urinary tract infection. They are also at
increased risk of SIDS in the first year of life and are more likely
to have lower IQ's, and to develop insulin-dependent (type 1) and
non-insulin-dependent (type 2) diabetes mellitus and many
immunological problems like allergies. As adults, they are more likely
to develop lymphoma, leukemia, and Hodgkin's disease, overweight and
obesity, hypercholesterolemia, and asthma. And mothers who do not
breastfeed are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, breast and
ovarian cancer, and postpartum depression.

Why are we also allowing these unsafe ingredients in infant formula,
potentially increasing babies' risks for addition health problems?<

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