UPF damage and baby formula

[Hobert]

I've been reading a lot about the damage that UPFs can do to our bodies and I don't seem to have seen formula mentioned much.

Given that formula fed babies have a 100% UPF diet for the first six months of their lives, wouldn't we expect to see a greater disparity of health outcomes between breastfed and formula fed infants? I know UPFs have been tentatively linked to worse brain health but that doesn't seem to be appearing in the infant feeding studies. Does anyone know if formula is a (uniquely?) benign UPF or is the damage just not being found.

Do you know what neocate is and why it's used?

"UPFs" are the latest fad among orthorexics and others with eating disorders. It'll go the same way as Atkins, Slim Fast, and 5:2.

I'm reading the book. It's really interesting. Baby formula is absolutely upf. I wonder if anyone (scientist types) have any suggestions

I don't think anyone wants to question whether babies should be formula fed.

The question is, why is it acceptable for formula to be full of utter crap and what should be done about it.

I don't agree.

There's a long list of ingredients being routinely used in UPFs that are scientifically proven to be indigestible and to have a detrimental affect on gut health.

That's a very different thing to something like Atkins which throws out a useful food group pretty much altogether.

Gums and emulsifiers that are detrimental to our bodies are not a useful food group.

Neocate LCP is for the dietary management of infants who have cow’s milk allergy (CMA), multiple food protein intolerances (MFPI), and other conditions that require an amino acid based formula.

From the website. It's an amino acid based formula.

Yes

People ate a diet free of UPFs for most of human history. While we have been processing food for thousands of years, ultra-processing is relatively recent. How can avoiding them be a fad? It's just eating the way we've nearly always eaten. And there's almost no food you need to avoid. You can still eat your fill of cakes, biscuits, chocolate, ice cream, pizza, burgers, chips etc!

Ultra processed food vs non processed food is a stupid way of categorizing food basically.
Formula is an excellent way to feed a baby, second only to breastfeeding, because nutritionists put the fucking work into finding out exactly what young babies need to grow and develop properly and then making sure formula contains it in the right quantity. Then governments put laws in place to regulate the industry to make sure parents can’t get it wrong. In a country like the Uk, you can buy any brand of formula for your baby from any retailer and trust that it will give your child what they need, barring cases of intolerance, allergies medical issues with absorption or something . The goals when manufacturing the majority of ultra processed foods for adults and older children are very different. Usually the goal is to make it taste good and make it last a long time and be easy to store and transport, and the nutritional value does necessarily come in to it, or is a lower priority.

Whilst that is true for most people, it isn't for all. (See my posts re neocate).

Ultra processed food vs non processed food is a stupid way of categorizing food basically

I think this may be the correct conclusion.

I suppose it's just too difficult to know effects for certain OP, too many confounding factors.

However its unarguable that breast milk is far superior to formula milk for infants. Ppl can convince themselves otherwise "all my kids were formula fed and they are perfectly healthy" 🤦🏼‍♀️ It's a touchy subject for most of us. No one wants to think they have harmed their childrens' health.

More and more research is highlighting that an imbalanced gut microbiome is a major cause of chronic illnesses, some of which don't develop until later in life. It all begins in utero.

I only managed to feed my first for 6 weeks. Fed my second for a year. I still feel guilty about my son receiving formula from 6 weeks old and I worry as we have family history of IBD. I try my best to make sure they don't eat UPFs. So I wont feed them cheap seed oils now yet it was his sole source of nutrition for the first months of his life.

People need to be aware that formula is sufficient to keep your baby alive but it is full of crap ingredients. It should only be used in situations when breastfeeding does not work out.

However its unarguable that breast milk is far superior to formula milk for infants

For most infants.

I tried so hard with my youngest and I had tons of milk but she couldn't digest what I was feeding her and was losing weight and so so unhappy she cried all the time and was failure to thrive

On the other hand I was BF and my mum was quite obsessive about my diet. No pop/squash etc

I have numerous autoimmune conditions and allergies which nobody else in the family has and the rest were FF

It's definitely an interesting question, OP! I think the PP who have got upset have misunderstood the point of your post. I've enoyed reading the more intelligent and rational replies.

To be fair, most of the ingredients in formula are amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Have you looked at the ingredients on the side of your multivit?

What's the alternative if babies can't have breast milk for whatever reason? What happen pre - formula days? Did they just die?

Many still die, where I spent half my childhood unless you were wealthy and could afford formula or a wet nurse your baby would die.

I don't think this was OPS point.

Formula is good and important, should we be campaigning for it to be better quality is a valid question! We push for improvements in other areas of nutrition and consumer rights etc

Obviously breastfeeding is ideal, but if it’s not working or isn’t an option then ultra processed formula is vastly superior to any less processed or unprocessed alternative. People used to use goats for example, and feed an orphaned baby fresh goat’s milk. But formula is a better balance of nutrients and as long as it’s stored and made up correctly, is safe from bacterial contamination. People (not OP) suggesting non-breastfed babies need an unprocessed alternative to formula are dangerous. Like that insane recipe for bone broth formula that some paleo nut included in their recipe book a few years ago. The book was banned from sale until the recipe was removed.

This is a really good point - there have been children hurt in the past by health fads. Children being fed a low carb diet for example or too much fibre which can lead to malnutrition.

This all or nothing narrative is really frustrating.

@MrsSamR

The vast majority of women can breastfeed, I've seen studies saying 90-95% are capable, but many choose not to, and crucially of those who would like to, many get little or no support therefore quit (it's not easy at first). In the past there was no alternative so you had to persevere, plus women supported other women in a way that doesn't happen now.

@op

I have no idea why you are getting such rude and aggressive replies for simply asking about formula being an ultra processed food.

I hadn't even considered formula being an UPF. I'm really glad you posted this thread.

I agree with @onthefence23 that

Formula is good and important, should we be campaigning for it to be better quality is a valid question! We push for improvements in other areas of nutrition and consumer rights etc

No, absolutely. There's an understandable touchiness around formula that I think leads to people being reluctant to suggest it could be improved. Also, as noted up thread, it's really important not to make people too scared of it or they might ditch it for goats milk or something instead. It's a minefield.