Baby Formula Alert: Iron-Fortified Formula Linked to “Neurodevelopmental Delays”

photo credit: Jay Dugger

I received an Email recently about the findings of another study that reveals yet another possible danger from baby formula. Knowing that baby formula just isn’t good enough for our babies, I wasn’t surprised to read about it. What did pique my interest – and scare me a little – was the fact that the study was presented publicly in mid-2008 and yet we had never heard about it. So, I am making it a mission of this blog to help publicize the results of that study.

The study was presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies and Asian Society for Pediatric Research Joint Meeting in May 2008. It raised an unexpected [tag-tec]baby formula risk[/tag-tec]: the use of iron-fortified formula among healthy infants was linked to delays in neurobehavioral growth and development.

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The researchers compared almost 500 infants who had normal levels of iron at 6 months of age. Half of the infants received low-iron formula for one year; the other half received iron-fortified formula for one year. The infants were tested every year until age 10.

At that point, the low-iron group had higher scores in spatial memory, visual motor integration, IQ, visual perception, and motor coordination. The iron-fortified formula group had 11 IQ points less than the low-iron group.

The principal investigator was Betsy Lozoff, MD, professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

“If the infants fed the high iron formula had been compared to breastfed controls one could expect the difference to be even greater,” notes Betty Sterken, Executive Director of Infant Feeding Action Coalition (INFACT) Canada.

What does this mean for parents? Breastfeed your child.

If baby formula is at all necessary, do not use an iron-fortified formula (12 mg/L ferrous sulfate), unless your child has been shown to be anemic.

Isn’t breastfeeding so much simpler?

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