Technology has the potential to revolutionize baby nutrition.
Giving people the finest start in life is good for the world’s health as well as those of the individuals. Here, Rachelle Neumann describes how the next wave of technology can revolutionize baby formula.
Imagine the introduction of a miraculous product called Nutrio Pellets, which promised to satisfy all of an adult human’s daily nutritional needs in a single, easily absorbed tablet. It would soon be consigned to the category of science fiction because mere pellets cannot match the benefits of even one nutritious meal, much less three. A single pellet cannot provide you with the multitude of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients found in actual food; as any multivitamin pack will remind you, it “is not an alternative to a balanced diet.” Furthermore, eating a variety of foods has positive effects on human development and welfare on a psychological and emotional level.
Even though it may seem ridiculous when considering adult diets, millions of newborns worldwide live this way and have for decades, ever since infant formula was first introduced.
“Breast is best,” but it’s not a guarantee.
All scientists believe that breast milk is the best diet for infants since it contains all the nutrients needed for healthy growth and development in the early stages of life. For the first six months of a baby’s life, the World Health Organization advises exclusive breastfeeding1. Research has shown that this practice benefits nursing children physically and psychologically.
Breast milk and breastfeeding have several advantages as a nutritional source that has developed to best suit babies’ needs. Research has demonstrated that infants who are breastfed exhibit enhanced immune systems, reduced susceptibility to gastrointestinal disorders like diarrhea, constipation, and gastroenteritis, decreased susceptibility to infections like bacterial meningitis, and a decreased incidence of respiratory ailments like whooping cough and pneumonia. Additionally, breastfed infants are less likely to experience SIDS and are typically less likely to get hospitalized for illnesses.2.
Additionally, for the estimated 15 million (one in ten) kids delivered prematurely each year, breastfeeding plays a critical role.3.Breast milk provides a tenfold improvement in survival rates for preterm babies, making it a genuine savior for these infants.
But there are several reasons why many mothers choose not to breastfeed or are unable to do so; in fact, according to WHO standards, less than half of newborns are exclusively breastfed until they reach six months of age. For a variety of reasons, including health and mental health conditions that make nursing unsafe or impossible, as well as more prevalent social and economic factors in recent years, women may not be able to take time off work to care for their infants for the full six months of their lives.
Thus, for millennia, people have adopted substitutes for mothers’ milk. Moreover, babies were given animal milk in prehistoric times4 to supplement breast milk until the first infant formula was developed in the middle of the nineteenth century. About 160 years later, formula is still the greatest alternative—and for many, the only option—to provide kids the nutrients they require without the mother having to breastfeed them. Although the formula industry has come a long way since its beginning, there is still more work to be done.
Sufficient, but not a “recipe” that works
For many years, moms who were unable to breastfeed their children exclusively or part-time turned to formula as a remedy. While it does serve as a suitable substitute for breast milk—much like our fictitious Nutrio Pellets—it has long been known that breast milk contains an essential component that, in spite of all of today’s technological advancements, is absent from the range of infant formula options that are currently on the market.
Infant formulae are comparable to human milk in that they contain macroingredients in the proper proportions of lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates.5. But recent decades have seen a significant rise in our understanding of food science and nutrition, together with technological advancements, which demonstrate that manufactured formulae are not as nutritious as human milk.
In addition to the simpler-to-replicate macronutrients, human milk also includes beneficial compounds. These lend milk its structure, texture, and flavor, but they also facilitate the “conversation” that takes place between a mother and her kid when the latter uses extracted human milk or breast milk. These bioactive compounds, which are absent from animal milk and plant-based breast milk substitutes, have an impact on the growth, development, and metabolic activity of the nursing kid.Six
There is now unambiguous proof that deficiency in bioactive components might have negative impacts on newborns.7. Studies reveal that infants who are exclusively fed formula substitutes are more likely to encounter alterations in their microbiome, inflammatory conditions such as asthma and atopic dermatitis, slower cognitive development (until age two), and increased fever and diarrhea episodes, to mention a few.
In a difficult situation
Consequently, we are faced with a dilemma of sorts. The best milk for babies is breast milk, but not all women can or want to breastfeed, and many do not have safe access to donor breast milk. Although it can be used as a substitute, infant formula cannot meet all of an infant’s nutritional needs; human milk can.
Therefore, finding a solution falls on society as a whole and the food-tech sector in particular. Without compromising, this solution must include the same concentration of nutrients as breast milk and the same makeup of non-nutritive bioactive molecules that are now only found in significant amounts in human breast milk.8 These are just missing from the substitutes available today, and no matter how far science has come, the beneficial chemicals found in human milk cannot be artificially replicated.
The source holds the solution.
Perhaps the answer to guaranteeing that every baby benefits equally from nourishment and development comes from the breast milk’s fundamental source: the mammary cells.
Thanks to recent developments in the field of food science, scientists can now isolate, grow, and “programme” these mammary cells to secrete the same milk components as genuine human milk in a lab setting. As a result, the full range of nutrients and bioactive components included in breast milk can be produced without the actual act of traditional lactation. You can use any or all of these substances to add specific nutrients or the full spectrum of natural breast milk components to formulas.
We shall continue to rely on baby formula as of right now. While it is possible to optimize infant formulas to contain nutrient-dense components derived from human milk, this can only be achieved with human milk that has been cell-cultured.
We can do away with the ridiculous Nutrio Pellets by utilizing new technology to add those bioactive compounds to current recipes. As an alternative, we will soon be able to create baby formulas that closely resemble the actual thing. This kind of improvement to current formulations can enhance baby nutrition worldwide. It could be the difference between life and death, especially for premature babies.