Formula milk needs to be reformulated – for boys and girls.
Researcher Katie Hinde said just as we produce different deodorants for men and women, we should consider making gender-specific formula milk.
Dr Hinde also said that as breast milk varies so much from woman to woman, in some cases formula may be better for the baby than its mother’s milk.
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Formula milk should be reformulated to be gender-specific, says Dr Katie Hinde, from Harvard University
She spoke out after showing that nursing monkeys make different milk for boys and girls.
Milk for male babies is fattier and higher in protein and the milk made for the firstborn male is particularly rich.
In contrast, the milk for female babies is less rich but there is more of it. It is also higher in bone-building calcium.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference also heard that the few humans studies carried out have had mixed results. But some have also hinted at sex-specific differences.
There are also differences in the way the sexes respond to breast milk.
Dr Hinde, of Harvard University in the U.S., has shown male and female monkeys respond to the stress hormone cortisol in different ways.
And work on human babies found that girls, but not boys, get more fractious if their mother’s milk is high in cortisol.
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Dr Hinde says some women produce such poor quality breast milk their babies would be better off with formula milk. As a result, she says it's important women are not made to feel guilty if they don't breastfeed
However, in rat studies at least, this has long term benefits, with the animals actually better at coping with stressful situations than others.
Research also shows that the quality of breast milk varies greatly from woman to woman, with different amounts of vitamins, minerals, sugars, fats and other nutrients.
In some cases, the quality is so low that formula may be better.
However, women are made to feel guilty if they don’t breastfeed, said Dr Hinde.
Calling for more research on sex-specific formula milk, she said: ‘Public health would be aided if greater attention was paid to this.
‘We have good reasons to be sceptical of a one-size-fits-all formula milk.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2559342/Formula-milk-according-GENDER-Boys-need-fat-girls-calcium-says-expert.html#ixzz2tJryskYZ
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