I was taught when you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at
all. So I'm being very quiet about this announcement. Doesn't mean that I
didn't mutter to myself while reading it!
Ruth Scuderi (who is biting her tongue about this "News" Announcement
Westfield, MA
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18 Year Study in PEDIATRICS Links Breast Feeding to Increased IQ and Improved
Educational Achievement; DHA Suggested as the Cause
COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 5, 1998--Martek Biosciences
Corporation (NASDAQ: MATK) announced today that the January 1998 issue of
PEDIATRICS (Vol. 101 No. 1 January 1998) in an article entitled
"Breastfeeding and Later Cognitive and Academic Outcomes" by Horwood and
Fergusson (New Zealand), reported that in an 18 year longitudinal study of
over 1,000 children, those who were breast-fed as infants had both better
intelligence and greater academic achievement than those who were infant-
formula fed children. The authors cite the importance of DHA in the
neurological development of children and recommend the need to "develop
improved infant formulas with properties more similar to those of human
breast milk that may lead to improved developmental outcomes in children."
The study supports conclusions of more than 20 similar, well controlled
studies over the last 20 years, that breast-fed babies have a significant
cognitive enhancement over formula-fed babies. The Horwood and Fergusson
study, however, went beyond the measurement of an enhanced IQ and
demonstrated that the children who were breast-fed as infants were
considerably more likely than those who were formula-fed to successfully
complete their high school education. Their data indicated that breast-fed
babies have a 38% greater likelihood of completing their high school
matriculation than formula-fed babies even after allowances were made for
confounding social, familial and perinatal factors. Although the study
cannot conclude that DHA provided to the breast-fed infants from their
mothers' milk was the sole cause of the improved achievement scores, the
authors point out recent controlled intervention studies demonstrating
similar outcomes in infants with DHA-supplemented formulas and conclude that:
"...the weight of evidence clearly favors the view that exposure
to breast-feeding is associated with small but detectable increases
in childhood cognitive ability and educational achievement, with it
being likely that these increases reflect the effects of long chain
polyunsaturated fatty acid levels and, particularly, DHA levels on
early neurodevelopment."
Martek's patented DHA/arachidonic acid-rich oils are incorporated in
infant formulas in 24 countries reaching markets with a total population of
900 million.
Market Biosciences is engaged in the research, development and
manufacture of nutritional supplements, drug design technology, diagnostics
and pharmaceuticals. The Company's strategy is to access the vast but
largely untapped microalgae kingdom to create a broad portfolio of high-value
products that uniquely satisfy unmet nutritional and health needs.
CONTACT:
Martek Biosciences Corp., Columbia
Steve Dubin
Chief Financial Officer
410/740-0081
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