Scan the aisles of any grocery store, and you’ll find a plethora of infant formula options, all designed to meet the nutrient needs of growing infants, who nearly triple their body weight in the first year of life. And yet researchers and companies are busy testing new formulations all the time.
That’s in part because much has changed in our understanding of breast milk’s complexities over the decades — from early knowledge of its nutrient composition to modern revelations that it’s a living, bioactive substance that evolved not just to nourish babies, but also protect them from pathogens, train their immune systems and send signals between mother and baby.
Formula may never be able to replicate all this complexity, but science could guide development of better products, says Tony Ryan, a neonatologist and emeritus professor at University College Cork in Ireland, who coauthored an overview of baby formula R&D in the 2019 Annual Review of Food Science and Technology. Though breastfeeding is optimal, “not every baby can be breastfed, and so we do need safe and effective formulas and with the maximum possible benefit,” Ryan says.
But it’s also a fact that companies are apt to hype the benefits of added ingredients. The “brain-nourishing” promises made for supplementing formula with the omega-3 fatty acid DHA, starting in the early 2000s, are a case in point. DHA increased the cost of formula, and it’s now ubiquitous across brands, but whether it’s necessary is controversial; a 2017 review of the scientific literature, published by the international research network Cochrane, found no clear evidence that it benefits babies’ brain development.
“As the understanding and the knowledge become more and more sophisticated, and we learn about new molecules and new things that are in breast milk, the goal would be to mimic that,” says Susan Baker, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. But, she adds, ingredients should be added only if there’s evidence they’re beneficial, not just to sell more formula or increase its price.
