Enriched Formula Study Flawed
The folks at Popular Science sure know how to write an inflammatory headline. I just about blew a fuse when I read:
New Study Rocks the Breastfeeding Boat: Scientists discover that babies fed with enriched formula developed higher IQs than their breastmilk-fed peers
Fortunately for breastfeeding mothers and their babies, that headline isn’t true. It’s just an attempt by some hack to stir up controversy by mixing a little hyperbole with some half-truth. The original article cited by Popular Science was published by the BBC, and the headline is less conclusive and doesn’t condemn breastfeeding at all.
What the study claimed to show is that “premature babies” fed an “enriched formula” during the first weeks of their lives supposedly outperformed other premature babies on IQ tests. Instead of enriched formula the other babies were given regular formula or “bank” breast milk.
Babies were given either standard formula, or a version enriched with extra protein, fat, calcium, phosphorous, iron, zinc, copper and several other micronutrients.
Other babies received “bank” breast milk - ie not from their own mothers, while others received a mix of bank milk and formula.
Whatever the comparison, the child who had received the enriched formula milk performed better.
At best, the study may offer evidence that enriched formula is better for premature babies than regular formula or pasteurized breast milk from strangers, but in no way does the study even remotely suggest that enriched formula is better for a premature baby than fresh, unpasteurized breast milk from the mother.
The obvious flaw in the study is that the researchers apparently attributed positive differences in IQ scores at ages 8 and 16, and positive differences in the size of the caudate nucleus of the brain, solely to enriched formula feeding. However, there are other factors that could have produced those same results as the children developed from their birth to teenage years.
Am I to believe that enriched formula in the first few weeks of premature baby’s life will have a greater impact on his development than his diet from say 6 months to 8 years, the mental stimulation and education he receives during that time, or the environment he grows up in? Sorry, but I just can’t believe that.
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