Infant Formula What Are We Feeding Our Children?

For me, this quest began when my son Aden was born. Even before Aden was born, my partner and I decided that as long as she was able she would exclusively breast feed. We both agree that the breast is best. While waiting for my partners milk to come in and to get some tips on breast feeding we hired a lactation consultant who suggested supplementing with infant formula while waiting for my partners milk to come in. I expressed my concerns (even before this research) and was told you can talk about that after I (the lactation consultant) leave. When I called her cell phone and asked if there were other alternatives, natural alternatives, I was told nothing that I am allowed to recommend. I even called a pediatricians office and was told essentially the same thing, Legally we cant recommend anything other than infant formula. I even asked these people if they knew what was in the infant formula, the ingredients, and neither of these health care professionals could tell me about the ingredients, one even said there are a bunch of things in there that you cant even pronounce. After a huge disagreement over whether or not to give my son infant formula, or something natural, goat milk in particular, I decided to do some R.E.A.L. (Read, Educate, Ask, List (the results) research. I took pictures of the label and ingredients of a particular brand of infant formula and began the long journey into researching each ingredient, its risk, potential, chemical make-up, other known names, health risks, and more. When I started this journey I knew of a couple of these ingredients, specifically folic acid AKA iron phosphate, ferrous sulfate, iron sulfate; the aforementioned chemicals are pesticides and are known liver toxins. These chemicals are just the tip of the iceberg and beg the question, what are we feeding our children?

Lets list the ingredients shall we? Nonfat milk, lactose, palm olein, whey protein concentrate, coconut oil, soy oil, high oleic (safflower or sunflower) oil, galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), and less than 1% crypthecodinium cohnii oil, mortierella alpine oil, beta-carotene, lutein, potassium bicarbonate, calcium carbonate, ascorbic acid, soy lecithin, monoglycerides, calcium chloride, calcium hydroxide, magnesium chloride, ferrous sulfate, choline bitartrate, ascorbyl palmitate, sodium sitrate, taurine, inositol, zinc sulfate, mixed tocopherol concentrate, vitamin E (di-alpha tocopherol acetate), niacinamide, calcium pantothenate, L-carnitine, vitamin a palmitate, cupric sulfate, thiamine hydrochloride, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, manganese sulfate, vitamin k1 (phytonadione), biotin, sodium selenite, vitamin d3, cyanocobalamin, potassium phosphate, potassium iodide, potassium hydroxide, nucleotides (adenosine5-monophosphate, cytidine-5-monophosphate, disodium guanosine-5-monophosphate, disodium uridine-5-monophosphate Now that we have made our list of suspects, lets investigate each one and see what we find. As you will see not everything is bad that is in infant formula, but there are some specific ingredients that raise serious concerns. Ingredient Nonfat milk Health Comments Affects Possibly Of milk, antibiotics, hormones depending on source Mild to Gastrointestinal, colic, acid reflux, vomiting Severe http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/christine-bailey/foodintolerance_b_1909006.html?ir=UK+Lifestyle ??? Mild to Severe Mild to Severe Severe to Acute ??? Mild Sudden and severe autoimmune reactions, including death http://glutenfreenetwork.com/faqs/symptoms-treatments/gluten-intolerancesymptoms-how-do-you-know-if-gluten-is-making-you-sick/ Skin and Ingestion Allergen http://www.livestrong.com/article/368876-coconutoil-allergy-symptoms/ Severe autoimmune reactions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_allergy

Lactose

Palm Olein (Palm Oil) Whey Protein Concentrate Coconut Oil Soy Oil High Oleic Oil GalactoOligosaccharides (GOS) crypthecodinium cohnii oil mortierella alpina oil

Flatulence, stomach pain, and irritable bowel syndrome

Mild to Severe ???

Diarrhea, vomiting, dehydrations, gastrointestinal pain http://cornucopia.org/DHA/DHA_Update_2_09.pdf Contains Mercury, Lead, Arsenic Page 36 section 3 http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/fcn/gras_notices/grn000094A.pdf

Beta-carotene Lutein

positive positive

Pro vitamin A, helps immune system and eye health Eye health possible skin discoloration (turning yellowish or orange) http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Truth-About-the-Side-Effects-ofLutein&id=2151565 Eye, skin, throat, and digestive irritant http://www.ansci.wsu.edu/MSDS/documents/Potassium_Bicarbonate.pdf May be toxic to kidneys http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927119 Diarrhea, upset stomach http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000720/#a682583-sideEffects Coughing, sneezing, diarrhea, shortness of breath, and in rare occasions DEATH http://www.livestrong.com/article/522503-soy-lecithin-and-allergic-response/

Potassium bicarbonate Calcium carbonate ascorbic acid Soy lecithin

Mild unknown

Mild to Severe