Why do children drink more bụ formula?

Breastmilk has less protein (protein) than formula, and that may be the reason for a larger bottle feeding, a study has just published.

In the past, there were concerns that formula-fed babies - which tend to be larger - were "programmed" to accumulate more fat and thus have a higher risk of obesity.

Recent international studies of more than 1,000 children, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that the protein content of formula should be reduced.

Photo: BBC

The study was conducted in Belgium, Italy, Germany, Poland and Spain on babies born between 2002 and 2004.

One-third of babies given low-protein formulas (about 2g per 100 kcal), one third get formula milk with a higher protein content (3-4 g per 100 kcal), in when the remaining group was breastfed for the first year (exclusive breastfeeding, or only taking formula milk for up to 3 bottles per week).

Babies are followed up to 2 years of age, measuring height, weight and body mass index. As a result, at the age of 2, there was no significant difference in height between groups of children, but the highest protein intake group was the heaviest.

Researchers presume that low protein levels are ingested in childhood to help protect the body against later obesity.

Babies are still being monitored to find out if those who eat low-protein formula reduce the risk of future obesity.

"This result underscores the importance of breastfeeding because of the long-term benefits it brings , " said Professor Berthold Koletzko, from the University of Munich, Germany, who led the study.

"It also underscores the importance of continuing to research and improve the composition of infant formula."

However, a spokesman for the British Association of Nutrition and Newborns said companies actually lowered the protein content below the threshold suggested in this study. She also said that the evidence that later obesity formula is unclear.

The new newborn growth chart, to be launched in the UK this summer, has been changed to be closer to the growth path of breastfeeding babies. The current chart that Britain uses is based on research in the 1970s for formula-fed babies, in which more babies are breastfed, causing unnecessary anxiety.