Anti-Obesity Baby Formula?

by Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger

My oldest daughter had rolls and rolls of fat. She had triple chins and big chunky thighs. She was breastfed and so there really was not an issue with how chubby she was. Now, at age 8, she weighs just about what she should weigh for her height. But scientists are concerned with the growing obesity rate among young children. Children these days play less and seem to have diets oozing with fats and sugars yielding a high percentage of kids who are categorized as morbidly obese.

Apparently the growing trend is of such a great concern, that scientists in Britain are developing an anti-obesity baby formula. As all baby formulas, this is made to mimic breast milk by adding the hormone leptin. Leptin, which is found in breast milk but not in formula, has been thought to sort of program the brain to prevent overeating throughout life. So this new formula would include the hormone leptin. The studies were done on rats which scientists admit is a little bit of a problem since there are in fact obese adults who were breastfed, suggesting that perhaps leptin doesn't work the same way in humans.

How Breastfeeding Helps Prevent Obesity

There are numerous factors that contribute to an over weight child. However, one way in which breastfeeding is thought to help fight obesity is by training the child at a very early age to control how much they eat. Breastfed babies are generally fed on demand and so when they are full--they stop eating.

I didn't find any information on how soon this formula will be available but frankly, I would be hard pressed to feed my child extra synthetic hormones when I could achieve the same results.

Parents, if we want our kids to be healthy, we need to model healthy eating habits. We need to cook nutritious meals, watch how much sugar enters our house and make sure that there are plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables to eat. We need to stay away from snacks that are fattening. We need to make sure that our toddlers have time to run and walk and play. I simply cannot believe that feeding your baby anti-obesity formula will outweigh all of the other influences that parents have.

More articles on childhood obesity!

Check out the Sneaky Mama blogs! She always has a great recipe for getting kids to eat their fruits and veggies!

Learn more about Valorie Delp

Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line.

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger