TOO MUCH ALUMINIUM IN INFANT FORMULAS
The aluminum content
of a range of the most popular brands of infant formulas remains high, and
particularly so for a product designed for preterm infants and a soya-based
product designed for infants with cow's milk intolerances and allergies,
researchers have found.
A study by a team at
Keele University in Staffordshire, led by Dr Chris Exley with Shelle-Ann M
Burrell, demonstrating the vulnerability of infants to early exposure to
aluminum serves to highlight an urgent need to reduce the aluminum content of
infant formulas to as-low-a-level as is practically possible. The research
has been published in the journal BMC Pediatrics.
Infant formulas are
integral to the nutritional requirements of preterm and term infants. While it
has been known for decades that infant formulas are contaminated with
significant amounts of aluminum there is little evidence that manufacturers
consider this to be a health issue. Aluminum is non-essential and is linked to
human disease. There is evidence of both immediate and delayed toxicity in
infants, and especially preterm infants, exposed to aluminum and the team
contends that there is still too much aluminum in infant formulas.
There has been a long
and significant history documenting the contamination of infant formulas by
aluminum and consequent health effects in children. Through these and other
publications manufacturers of infant formulas have been made fully aware of the
potentially compounded issue of both the contamination by aluminum and the
heightened vulnerability, from the point of view of a newborn's developing
physiology, of infants fed such formulas.
There have been
similar warnings over several decades in relation to aluminum toxicity and
parenteral nutrition of preterm and term infants. To these ends the expectation
would be that the aluminum content of current infant formulas would at the very
least be historically low and at best would be as low as might be achieved for
a processed product. The team tested this premise and found that the aluminum
content of a range of branded infant formulas remains too high.
The researchers chose
15 different branded infant formula products. These included powdered and
ready-made liquid formulas based on cow's milk and a soya-based product. The
categories of formulas included those for preterm babies, stage one (0-6
months) and stage two (6 months plus) infants. All products were stored
according to the manufacturer's instructions. Products were sampled directly
from their packaging to avoid extraneous contamination. Ready-made liquid
products were shaken between each sampling.
In general, the
aluminum content of formulas prepared from powdered milks were significantly
higher than ready-made milks.
Commercially available
branded infant formulas used by literally millions of parents to feed children
of up to 12 months-plus of age are still significantly contaminated with
aluminum. The concentrations of aluminum in the milk formulas varied from ca
200 -- 700 μg/L and would result in the ingestion of up to 600 μg of aluminum
per day.
The concentrations of
aluminum in infant formulas are up to 40 times higher than are present in
breast milk. These concentrations are all several times higher than are allowed
in drinking water. They are clearly too high for human consumption and
certainly too high for consumption by such a vulnerable group as pre-term and
term infants.
The suggestion is that
these products are 'contaminated' with aluminum as each of the manufacturers
insist that aluminum is not knowingly added to their products.
The sources of such
contamination are myriad though would probably include equipment used in both
processing and storing of bulk products. In addition many of the formulas were
packaged for sale using aluminum-based materials. The high content of aluminum
in the soya-based formula probably reflects its prior accumulation in the
soybean plant and the known aluminum tolerance of some soybean cultivars that
are grown on acid soils.
While it is the case
that the present levels of aluminum in infant formulas have not been shown to
cause adverse effects in healthy infants, it is also the case that there have
not been any clinical studies which refute such as a possibility. Previous
research has highlighted the potential toxicity of aluminum in infants with
confounding disorders (including, prematurity, poor renal function and
gastrointestinal disease) and fed infant formulas and these studies when viewed
alongside aluminum's known connections with medicine and human disease should
at least deter complacency concerning this issue. It is widely accepted that
the not fully developed physiologies of infant's gastrointestinal tract,
kidneys and blood-brain barrier may predispose them to aluminum toxicity and
while there are no definitive links between aluminum exposure through infant
formulas and immediate or delayed toxicity in healthy infants this neither
should not nor does not preclude such as a possibility.
Comments
Post a Comment