Breast milk substitutes: problems and perils

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A fascinating paper is free from the current Archives of Disease in Childhood, http://adc.bmj.com/content/97/6/529.fullIt documents the history of the battle against promotion of formula milks and current state of play, giving some fightening facts and figures:1. Global estimate that suboptimal breastfeeding is responsible for 13%

of child mortality and 10% of child disease2. In the UK, where the rate of exclusive breastfeeding (7% at 4 months) is one of the lowest in the world, companies spend 10 times more on advertising than the Department of Health spends on promoting

breastfeeding. In Norway, by contrast, the rate is 64% at 4 months and advertising is strictly controlled. Interestingly, 20% of mothers in the UK who were weaning their babies at 4–6 months of age thought formula was better and

more nutritious than breast milk.3. In industrialised countries (like UK) Failure to breastfeed increases the risk of gastrointestinal disease,

acute otitis media and acute lower respiratory tract infection in infancy. In older children the rates of leukaemia are greater, as are cholesterol levels and hypertension and type 1 or type 2 diabetes4.In the 2005 UK Infant Feeding Survey only 13% of mothers who were weaning their infants were following the correct instructions for preparation of formulabest wishes Cowleysarahcowley183@...http://myprofile.cos.com/S124021COn