How formulas influence infant weight gain, obesity risk

The weight gain of formula-fed infants is influenced by the type of formula the baby is consuming, the new findings have revealed Monell Center.

The study has implications regarding the risk of the infant's development of obesity, diabetes and other diseases in the future.

Although most infant formulas are cow 'of milk, other options include hydrolyzed formulas based on soy-based and protein. hydrolyzed protein formulas contain predigested proteins and usually fed to infants who can not tolerate intact proteins in other formulas.

In adults, pre-digested proteins are thought to act in the gut to start the end of the meal, which leads to smaller meals and eating fewer calories. On this basis, the authors hypothesized that children who are fed hydrolyzed protein formulas to eat less and have altered the growth pattern compared to formula-fed children with cow's milk. "

In the study, children whose parents had already decided to bottle-feed were randomly assigned to two weeks of age for feeding or formula milk a cow '(35 children) or a hydrolyzed protein formula (24 children) for seven months .

Both formulations contained the same amount of calories, but the formula of hydrolyzed protein more, including a greater number of small peptides and free amino acids.

Babies were weighed once a month in the laboratory, where he also videotaped eating a meal given formula. The food continued until the child indicated that s / he was full.

During the seven-month study of protein hydrolyzate children gained weight at a slower rate than babies fed with cow's milk formula. Linear growth, or the length was not different between the two groups, demonstrating that differences in growth were specifically attributable to the weight.

"All the formulas are not equal," said study lead author Julie Mennella, a developmental psychologist at Monell.

"These two formulas have the same amount of calories, but they differ considerably in how they affect children's growth."

When the data were compared with national standards for breast-fed infants, the rate of weight gain in infants hydrolyzed protein was comparable to the standards of breast milk, however, formula-fed babies cow 'of milk gained weight at a rate higher than the same standards of human milk.

Analysis of the laboratory chow-fed infants showed the formula of hydrolyzed protein consumed less formula during the meal.

"One of the reasons why children hydrolyzed proteins had similar growth patterns of babies fed breast milk, which are the gold standard is that it consumes less power for a formula compared with formula-fed infants cow 'milk, "said Mennella.