"Marketing Gimmick" Linked to Serious Illnesses

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA: A report released today by The Cornucopia
Institute presents research indicating that new additives placed in
infant formula are seriously endangering the health of some formula-fed
newborns and toddlers.

The report, Replacing Mother-Imitating Human Breast Milk in the
Laboratory, details research questioning the alleged benefits of adding
"novel" omega-3 fatty acids, produced in laboratories and extracted from
algae and fungus, into infant formulas. The additives raised health and
safety red flags during preapproval testing while aggressive marketing
campaigns by some infant formula manufacturers appear to have encouraged
new mothers to give up nursing for the questionable infant products.

"When I worked in the hospital's neonatal ward, the nurses all called it
'the diarrhea formula'," says Sam Heather Doak, LPN, IBCLC, from
Marietta , Ohio. "We've seen infants, tiny little humans, with diarrhea
that just wouldn't stop after being given this formula." For infants,
virulent and long-term diarrhea is considered a serious and
life-threatening medical episode.

The infant formula referenced by Doak was supplemented with Martek
Biosciences Corporation's laboratory-produced oils containing DHA and
ARA. DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid, and ARA, an omega-6 fatty acid, are
naturally found in human breast milk and are considered important
nutrients for rapidly developing infants.

But laboratory-produced DHASCO and ARASCO (Martek's names for their
proprietary oils) are materially different from the fats found in a
mother's breast milk. Martek's products are extracted from fermented
algae and fungus, with the use of the synthetic solvent hexane, a
neurotoxic chemical. They contain only 40 to 50% DHA and ARA, with the
balance being sunflower oil, diglycerides, and nonsaponifiable
materials. Some of these components are not found in human breast milk,
and the triglycerides carrying DHA and ARA are not identical to those
found in human breast milk-and have never been part of the diet for
human infants.

For the full report, use this link
http://cornucopia.org/DHA/DHA_FullReport.pdf