Special infant formula may not prevent allergies
Baku, July 4 (AZERTAC). Despite pediatric guidelines endorsing "allergy-friendly" whey-based infant formulas, a new study finds the products don`t ward off allergies in babies at high risk for sensitivities.
Babies with a family history of allergies to foods or environmental allergens who were fed Nestle`s NAN Hypoallergenic whey product after they stopped breastfeeding were just as likely to develop allergies later as children who were fed milk or soy formulas, researchers report in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
The "findings do not support the recommendation that (the whey formula) should be used after breast-feeding as a preventive strategy for infants at high risk of allergic diseases," wrote Adrian Lowe and colleagues at the Royal Children`s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.
Because previous research has found that proteins in traditional cow`s milk formulas may make allergies more likely, many doctors recommend an alternative, known as partially hydrolyzed whey formula (pHWF). Whey is a byproduct of cheese production.
The pHWF has smaller proteins that are believed to be less likely to cause an allergic response.
Introducing high-risk children to the smaller whey proteins will help them gradually be able to tolerate larger milk proteins, said Tiffani Hays, director of pediatric nutrition at Johns Hopkins Children`s Center, who was not involved in the current study.
To test whether whey-based formula really does build protection from allergies, the Australian researchers randomly divided 620 high-risk infants into three groups that received pHWF, cow`s milk formula, or soy milk formula after they stopped breastfeeding.
The infants in the study had been breastfed for an average of three and a half months before they were given formula and the researchers tracked the children for two years to see how many of them developed allergies.
Just over half the babies in the study developed allergies, and they were equally likely to do so no matter which type of formula they had consumed.
The researchers also found that formula choice had no effect on the child`s risk of asthma, another form of immune system oversensitivity related to allergy.