A pediatrician associated with the hospital I work at said he and
several others attended a dinner Tuesday night at a very nice restaurant
that was a research presentation by a formula company.  According to
this doctor, the researcher is from England and his name is Lucas.

 He reported that premature babies (2500 grams) do better in terms of
weight and growth when fed breastmilk enhanced with formula fortifiers.
He said that the research shows better cognitive development with the
fortified diet as well.  He said that even full-term babies do better
with weight gain and growth when breastmilk is supplemented with
formula, and that they show better cognitive development too.

He said NEC in the premie nursery was also discussed, and that
breastmilk is best to avoid this complication.  However, that is because
of the sIgA and all you need to do is add sIgA to the formula and it
will eliminate the problem.

This was a quick hallway discussion.  He did not have all the facts in
front of him, and I may not have remembered exactly what his comments
were.  I asked him where this research was published so that I could
read it, but he did not know.  He suggested I check the internet because
Lucas is a well-known and respected researcher.

Is anyone familiar with this reserarch?  What information can you share
with me to refute this?  Beware to all... this program may be coming to
your area, too.

Barb Berges BS, RN, IBCLC
Rochester, New York