Highly enriched formula milk is better for the development of premature babies’ brains than breast or standard formula milk, according to research.
British researchers found that premature babies’ diet had a clear influence on brain development and IQ.
The doctors from Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the UCL Institute of Child Health looked at 76 premature babies born in the 1980s who were fed standard formula milk, banked breast milk (donated by other mothers) or an enriched formula with high protein and fat levels.
They found that the babies, now teenagers, fed the enriched nutrient formula had significantly higher verbal IQ and the area in the brain associated with IQ was larger.
Lead researcher Elizabeth Isaacs said scientists had previously thought that this area of the brain, called the caudate nucleus, might be influenced by nutrition in infancy when the brain had its chief growth spurt.
“The fact that early nutrition may program the development of specific brain structures is of fundamental biological importance,” Dr Isaacs said. “Although studies are beginning to appear that link aspects of current diet to brain function the data presented here are among the first to show that the structure of the human brain can be influenced by early nutrition.”
The formula contained extra calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc and copper but it was not clear whether one or a combination was responsible for increased brain growth.
King Edward Memorial Hospital’s Perron Rotary Express Milk Bank manager Ben Hartmann said feeding programs had improved since the study was done in the 1980s.
He said it was ideal for premature babies to be breastfed by their mothers. If this was not possible, donor milk was next best but if a mother was not comfortable with this, formula milk was used. In all cases, if a baby was not reaching growth targets, nutrients were added to the milk.
DEBBIE GUEST
Article from thewest.com.au
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