A locally led study suggests the kind of formula babies drink has a major ipmact on weight gain and could impact future risk of developing obesity, diabetes and other health issues, reports U.S. News and World Report.
"Events early in life have long-term consequences on health, and one of the most significant influences is early growth rate," study lead author Julie Mennella, a developmental psychobiologist at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, said in a news release from the center. "We already know that formula-fed babies gain more weight than breast-fed babies. But we didn't know whether this was true for all types of formula."In a study published online Dec. 27 in the journal Pediatrics, researchers assigned 2-week-old bottle-fed babies to either take a formula based on cow's milk (35 babies) or a protein hydrolysate-based formula (24 babies). The infants drank the formula for seven months. Both had the same amount of calories but the cow's milk-based formula had less protein.Those who drank the cow's milk-based formula gained weight faster, more than babies typically do on breast milk.Original source: U.S. News and World Report
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