One new tack taken by infant-formula manufacturers has been to attempt to match the body chemistry of the breast-fed infant rather than the chemical makeup of breast milk itself. Abbott Labs researchers have stated, "A better goal is to match the performance of the breast-fed infant. Performance is measured by the infant's growth, absorption of nutrients, gastrointestinal tolerance and reactions in blood."

Yet even using this standard of measurement, bottle-feeding falls short. Levels of long-chain fatty acids -- a critical component of brain development in humans -- are markedly lower in the blood chemistry of artificially-fed infants. Additionally, certain hormones, minerals and amino acids are found at very different levels in breast- and bottle-fed babies. "Formulas succeed only at making babies grow well, usually, but there is more to breast-feeding than getting the baby to grow quickly," explains Dr. Newman.

In addition to the health risks inherent in feeding an inferior substitute for mother's milk -- formula-feeding can also be hazardous due to parental misuse or manufacturing error. Child health advocates, particularly those associated with the WIC program, report that some parents dilute their babies' bottles of formula in an attempt to make the expensive product last longer. This can cause malnutrition, or a condition known as "water intoxication," leading to brain swelling and seizures. Additionally, parents who do not have access to a safe water supply place their babies at risk of bacterial contamination when they prepare bottles of formula.

Formula manufacturing errors are also far more common than most American parents are aware. In fact, the federal Infant Formula Act, which aimed to improve the safety and effectiveness of infant formula, was passed after a manufacturing error allowed a large quantity of chloride-deficient formula to enter the U.S. marketplace, causing documented health problems in a number of babies.

According to information on a company Web site from "Qualicon, Inc.," a new DuPont subsidiary that describes itself as providing commercial diagnostics in food, pharmaceutical and personal-care products, an unnamed infant formula manufacturer recently discovered that "its finished product was consistently contaminated with low levels of Enterobacter sakazakii." Although Qualicon's report of this incident states that this substance is not a known pathogen, in fact strains of Enterobacter sakazakii are known to cause deadly illnesses such as meningitis in infants fed infected formula. In this case, Qualicon describes having isolated Enterobacter sakazakii "frequently in products from two (infant formula) factories and infrequently in products from a third." Qualicon found several hundred samples and more than 30 different strains of the bacteria in both raw materials and the environment at each site. This widespread problem was found to be caused by cross-contamination due to cleaning methods and personnel movement. As this information came from a Web site advertising Qualicon's services to the food industry and not from any infant formula manufacturer, parents are unlikely to have been aware of this potentially life-threatening infectious hazard.

In early June 1999, Mead Johnson, makers of infant formula brands including Enfamil and Prosobee, reported that 120,000 cans of infant formula shipped to stores late last year were being recalled due to a labeling mistake that could lead to "severe medical problems" in some babies. Company officials said the cans labeled as infant formula could actually contain the "adult nutritional supplement" Vanilla Sustacal. No public explanation was offered for the time lapse between discovery of the problem and the recall being issued. In another recent incident, a memo released by the Georgia WIC program on May 6, 1999 announced that in April of this year, Abbott Labs initiated a voluntary recall of its Ready-to-Feed (RTF) Isomil, an iron-fortified soy-based infant formula. The memo fails to mention exactly why the formula is being recalled. In April of this year, 75,000 32-ounce cans of Nestle's Carnation Good Start brand infant formula were recalled due to the product's having "curdled." No mention of this recall was made on Carnation's promotional Web site for parents.

In fact, between 1982 and 1994 alone, there were 22 significant infant formula recalls in the United States. At least seven of these were classified by the Food and Drug Administration as Class I, meaning health problems could be life-threatening to babies who were fed the tainted formula. In many cases, parents never become aware that their child's primary food source has been recalled because this would require checking with the FDA Enforcement Report every week to find out about any new problems with various brands.

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