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
------------------------------------
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