Kelly Welton, BA, RRT-NPS

For the past five years or so, I have been on a personal quest to find out what is in our food here in the U.S. Rewind to 1992, when I gave up artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, fast food, junk food, and caffeine when I decided to get pregnant. I wanted my baby to have the best health advantage, so I cut all those things out of my diet. 

That was before GMOs were introduced to the American food supply in 1996. 

I will not debate the GMO topic here, but I will ask you to pause and think about diseases like metabolic syndrome, restless leg, fibromyalgia, leaky gut syndrome, and psoriasis. 

Hardly anyone had these problems prior to 1996, and much fewer children. Now, watch TV for 5 minutes, and you cannot help but see multiple ads for new diseases and symptoms. Furthermore, people are noticing that what used to be solely adult diseases now affect more and more children. 

Moreover, although the moniker “Breast is best” has been around for a while, not all preterm or term infants can have human breast milk. 

As a result, companies have capitalized on the next best thing: cow’s milk. I recently watched a documentary on food allergies that spoke of how the American Dairy Council in the 1950s and 60s decided that humans should consume the milk of another species. Lots and lots of milk. In addition, facts such as cow’s milk having twenty times the casein levels of human milk. The prevalence of allergies to milk, either due to the milk itself or the by-products of what the cow was fed that got into her milk. 

In the 60s, in certain parts of the country, the formula also symbolized status. If you breastfed your baby, you were poor and could not afford formula. 

Baby formula companies have long tried hard to make their formula resemble human milk as closely as possible. At the same time, the product has to be shelf-stable when non-refrigerated, and the powdered form must be easy to reconstitute in water. These conveniences have resulted in many additives to their products. 

Have you ever read the ingredients in the formula? Look at these ingredients; would you feed this to your baby? 

Similac Special Care Premature: 

Water, Nonfat Milk, Corn Syrup Solids, Medium-chain Triglycerides, Lactose, Whey Protein Concentrate, Soy Oil, Coconut Oil. Less than 0.5% of C. Cohnii Oil, M. Alpina Oil, Beta-Carotene, Lutein, Calcium Phosphate, Ascorbic Acid, Potassium Citrate, Calcium Carbonate, Soy Lecithin, Monoglycerides, Magnesium Chloride, m-Inositol, Sodium Citrate, Carrageenan, Potassium Hydroxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Choline Bitartrate, Taurine, Choline Chloride, Niacinamide, L-Carnitine, Zinc Sulfate, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Potassium Phosphate, d-Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Cupric Sulfate, Riboflavin, Thiamine Chloride Hydrochloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Manganese Sulfate, Biotin, Phylloquinone, Sodium Selenate, Vitamin D3, Cyanocobalamin, and Nucleotides (Cytidine 5’-Monophosphate, Disodium Guanosine 5’-Monophosphate, Disodium Uridine 5’-Monophosphate, Adenosine 5’-Monophosphate). 

Enfamil : 

Corn syrup solids (47%), Vegetable oil, Casein hydrolysate, modified corn starch, mortierella alpina oil, scizochytrum sp oil, lactobacillus rhamnosus, calcium citrate, calcium phosphate, potassium chloride, potassium citrate, sodium citrate, calcium hydroxide, magnesium oxide, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, cupric sulfate, manganese sulfate, sodium iodide, sodium selenite, choline chloride, ascorbic acid, niacinamide, calcium pantothenate, vitamin d3, thiamin hydrochloride, riboflavin, vitamin B6 hydrochloride, folic acid, vitamin K1, biotin, vitamin B12, inositol, vitamin A palmitate, L- cystine, L -tyrosine, L -tryptophan, L-taurine, L-carnitine. 

The first ingredient in Enfamil is essentially sugar! The general public is happy to read on the label that table sugar is not used but does not mention that corn syrup is essentially sugar and likely is GMO with traces of glyphosate. Is anyone testing? Similac contains carrageenan, a substance banned in Europe. Both formulas, concocted by experts, contain very different ingredients. Why? 

Who decides that these babies need supplements not present in human milk? Most hospitals choose their formula brand by granting to the lowest bidder. In addition, there have been a few formula recalls over the years due to contamination. We all know breast is best and that certain situations warrant an exception: drug contamination, mom unable to produce milk or feed/pump, mastitis, and more. In these situations, how can we better feed our NICU babies? Perhaps we could call for more donor breast milk from moms with good diets and no contaminants. 

Human to human, as it was meant to be. Is it time? 

References: 

1. https://www.similacrecall.com/us/en/home.html 
2. https://www.shouselaw.com/torts/baby-formula-lawsuit/enfamil-lawsuit/