Skip to main content
PMC home page
American Journal of Public Health logoLink to American Journal of Public Health
. 1985 May;75(5):477–480. doi: 10.2105/ajph.75.5.477

Infant formulas and gastrointestinal illness.

J S Koopman, V J Turkish, A S Monto
PMCID: PMC1646279  PMID: 2984949

Abstract

Infants under age one in a pediatric practice were followed prospectively, and the determinants of acute gastrointestinal illness were evaluated in case-control pairs, matched by birth month. The risk of acute gastrointestinal illness in infants receiving formula was six times greater than in infants receiving breast milk and 2.5 times greater than in infants receiving cow milk. In the second six months of life, infants on formula had 0.38 more gastrointestinal illness episodes per child than infants on cow milk. Episodes without rotavirus or bacterial agents accounted for most of the increased risk of formula. The increased risk could not be explained by iron fortification of the formulas, prescription of non-milk based formulas to high-risk infants, case ascertainment bias, control selection bias, or numerous control factors. Non-antibody anti-infection properties found in cow milk are one possible explanation for these findings.

Full text

PDF
477

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baltimore R. S., Vecchitto J. S., Pearson H. A. Growth of Escherichia coli and concentration of iron in an infant feeding formula. Pediatrics. 1978 Dec;62(6):1072–1074. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chandra R. K. Prospective studies of the effect of breast feeding on incidence of infection and allergy. Acta Paediatr Scand. 1979 Sep;68(5):691–694. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1979.tb18439.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cohen S. A., Hendricks K. M., Eastham E. J., Mathis R. K., Walker W. A. Chronic nonspecific diarrhea. A complication of dietary fat restriction. Am J Dis Child. 1979 May;133(5):490–492. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cohen S. A., Hendricks K. M., Mathis R. K., Laramee S., Walker W. A. Chronic nonspecific diarrhea: dietary relationships. Pediatrics. 1979 Oct;64(4):402–407. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cunningham A. S. Morbidity in breast-fed and artificially fed infants. II. J Pediatr. 1979 Nov;95(5 Pt 1):685–689. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(79)80711-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cunningham A. S. Morbidity in breast-fed and artificially fed infants. J Pediatr. 1977 May;90(5):726–729. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(77)81236-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Falkler W. A., Jr, Diwan A. R., Halstead S. B. A lipid inhibitor of dengue virus in human colostrum and milk; with a note on the absence of anti-dengue secretory antibody. Arch Virol. 1975;47(1):3–10. doi: 10.1007/BF01315587. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Fergusson D. M., Horwood L. J., Shannon F. T., Taylor B. Breast-feeding, gastrointestinal and lower respiratory illness in the first two years. Aust Paediatr J. 1981 Sep;17(3):191–195. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1754.1981.tb01937.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Iron-fortified formulas and gastrointestinal symptoms in infants: a controlled study, With the cooperation of The Syracuse Consortium for Pediatric Clinical Studies. Pediatrics. 1980 Aug;66(2):168–170. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Koopman J. S., Turkisk V. J., Monto A. S., Thompson F. E., Isaacson R. E. Milk fat and gastrointestinal illness. Am J Public Health. 1984 Dec;74(12):1371–1373. doi: 10.2105/ajph.74.12.1371. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Matthews T. H., Nair C. D., Lawrence M. K., Tyrrell D. A. Antiviral activity in milk of possible clinical importance. Lancet. 1976 Dec 25;2(8000):1387–1389. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(76)91922-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Monto A. S., Koopman J. S., Longini I. M., Isaacson R. E. The Tecumseh study. XII. Enteric agents in the community, 1976-1981. J Infect Dis. 1983 Aug;148(2):284–291. doi: 10.1093/infdis/148.2.284. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Paine R., Coble R. J. Breast-feeding and infant health in a rural US community. Am J Dis Child. 1982 Jan;136(1):36–38. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1982.03970370038009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Rosner B., Hennekens C. H. Analytic methods in matched pair epidemiological studies. Int J Epidemiol. 1978 Dec;7(4):367–372. doi: 10.1093/ije/7.4.367. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Public Health are provided here courtesy of American Public Health Association

RESOURCES