Infant formula can’t replicate breast milk

Although our recent feature on expansion of the infant formula industry clearly said that breast milk is best, it was inaccurate to say that infant formula can replicate breast milk, and that making infant formula is a process of rebuilding it as breast milk.

People reading the article may have been misled into thinking that human breast milk can be replicated, which we hereby correct.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) says there are many advantages of breast milk composition that cannot be provided by infant formula, for instance, special bioactive ingredients in breast milk protect infants from infectious diseases and gastroenteritis, and help boost a baby’s immune response. Breast milk composition changes over a single feed to meet the infant’s needs, the protein in breast milk is special, and is not the same in infant formula.