Adding fatty acids to baby formula supported

Source: Associated Press/Star Phoenix
Publishing Date: Thursday March 9, 2000

WASHINGTON (AP) - Enriching bottle formula with two essential fatty acids found in mother's milk can significantly improve the mental development of babies, a new study suggests.

Supplemented formula, however, does not assure intellectual genius, said researchers at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest in Dallas.

But the study does show that adding the fatty acids to bottled formula can closely mimic the effect of mother's milk in brain development.

Experts said the study, which is in the Journal Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, is the first to compare formula supplemented with the fatty acids with formula without the additions. Earlier studies compared straight formula with mother's milk.

The study adds to growing support for adding two fatty acids-docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA)-found in breast milk to baby formula.

More than 60 countries have approved supplementing formula with the fatty acids. It's not approved in Canada, where adding the fatty acids would make formula a "novel food" said a Health Canada spokesperson. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing supplementation. In the study, researchers divided 56 newborns into three groups and fed them different formula for four months.

A control group received a commercial formula with no addition. One test group got formula supplemented with DHA, while the third group got both DHA and AA. At the end of the four months, all three groups began receiving only commercial formula.

At 18 months, the children were tested on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, a standard test used to gauge physical and mental progress of infants. A score of 100 is considered the national average for mental development.

Eileen Birch, an author of the study, said infants receiving both DHA and AA scored105.6 on the mental development index of the Bayley Scales. This is virtually identical to the 106 score of a separate group of babies, in another study, who were on mother's milk only.

For the control group of infants, who received commercial formula, the average score was 98. This is within the statistical range for normal, but seven points below the average of the test group.

For the group that received formula supplemented only with DHA, said Birch, the score was about 102, a statistically insignificant difference from the normal.

Birch said although the infants on supplemented formula scored significantly higher than the control group, the study does not prove that there will be a similar IQ difference when the children are older.

"The test is not a perfect predictor of school-age intelligence," said Birch.

Children in the study will be tested again at ages four and nine to determine if the enhanced early brain development translates into higher Iqs among school children, she said.

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