Answer to Q20.
A much-publicised recent study has been portrayed as indicating that feeding infant formula will lead to a risk of adult obesity. This is a misrepresentation of the findings of the research.
Among a group of formula-fed infants, the study did find a link between excessive weight gain in the first week of life and the likelihood of the person being obese when those infants reached adult life (ages 20-32 years). There was a very weak link also with weight gain in the first 16 weeks of infancy and adult obesity.
The study did not show whether overfeeding of breast milk might produce the same effect. Although uncommon, overfeeding in breastfed infants is a well-recognised possibility.
The study is the first indication of the risk of adult obesity, the rate of which is rising rapidly throughout the world, may be partly linked to overfeeding in early infancy. Overfeeding is more likely to occur in bottle-fed infants, for example by parents trying to get the baby to "finish the bottle", or by using more powder than advised when diluting the formula, resulting in an overconcentrated formula. However the study is not proof that formula feeding inevitably leads to adult obesity.
Reference: Nicolas Stettler, MD, MSCE; Virginia A. Stallings, MD; Andrea B. Troxel, PhD; Jing Zhao, MSE, BS; Rita Schinnar, MPA; Steven E. Nelson, BA; Ekhard E. Ziegler, MD; Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH:
Weight Gain in the First Week of Life and Overweight in Adulthood.
A Cohort Study of European American Subjects Fed Infant Formula.
Circulation: 2005;111:1897-1903.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.