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The Nutramigen Hoax

Jul 2nd, 2010
by Leah.
9 comments

Nnutramigen The Nutramigen Hoaxutramigen. If you know the name, chances are your baby is allergic to milk, soy, or both. (Mine is allergic to milk, eggs, and sesame). If you are like me, you’ve probably felt at a loss what to feed your hypersensitive baby. And if you are like me, you hate shelling out $15-30 per jar of this foul-smelling powder.

My acquaintance with Nutramigen began several months ago, while weaning my then 15-months- old. After abstaining from dairy, eggs, and tahina for over a year (the allergens pass through breast milk),  I was desperate to find a formula my baby could digest.

That’s when our dietitian recommended Nutramigen. At first, it sounded like an ingenious wonder food. Broken down milk protein, easily digested by allergic kids. How smart! Then, last week, after watching this video, I checked the ingredients panel and nearly had a fit. The VERY first ingredient – corn syrup solids!!! Followed closely by casein, corn starch, fructose, coconut and soybean oils. For this we are paying $15 a pack after the HMO subsidy?!

As one commenter has suggested, once your child has an allergy, the formula  companies have you by the throat. They charge premium for an illusion of perfect nutrition for a sick baby, while using the cheapest, USDA-subsidized ingredients – corn and soybean. The main issue is that the fructose in corn syrup metabolizes as fat (just like alcohol). In the video I had mentioned, Dr. Robert Lustig (a pediatrician from University of California) says some formulas are so high in sugar, they can be compared to “baby milkshakes.” He blames the formulas for producing the scores of obese 6-month-olds he routinely sees at his endocrinology clinic.

The problem is more acute for parents of allergic babies. What in the world can we feed our children without making them sick?


 

Nutrition with Your Eyes Open

Jun 21st, 2010
by Leah.
7 comments

If you have followed this blog for any period of time, you must have notice that nutrition is a big item on my list. Today, I came across a video lecture that will change the way I feed my family. No, we don’t drink Coke and we do eat whole grain everything. Still, this talk has transformed the way I view food and the nutritional choices I will be making starting today.

For years, we’ve been “spoon-fed” about the benefits of a low-fat, high-carb diet. Guess what, it’s a hoax. In this video Robert H. Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California San Fransisco  debunks everything we take for granted about nutrition:

  • natural does NOT mean good-for-you
  • animal fat and LDL are NOT (always) bad
  • exercise is NOT there to burn calories
  • all calories are NOT created equal
  • carbohydrates are NOT all the same
  • USDA recommendations were NOT created to benefit us
  • fruit juice and (some) baby formulas ARE toxic

If you want to raise healthy kids and be there to enjoy their adulthood, you owe it to yourself to watch this video.

Beyond the realization that the seemingly harmless fructose is so horrible for our health, I loved the simplicity of the solution.

  1. No sweetened beverages (soft drinks, fruit juice). Only milk and water.
  2. Eat plenty of fiber.
  3. Wait 20 minutes for the second portion.
  4. Buy screen time with exercise (it’s not what you think).

What was your most shocking revelation in this video?


 

On Breastfeeding and Growth Charts

Nov 22nd, 2009
by Leah.
10 comments

Last week, I posted an item about my baby’s seeming diagnosis of Failure to Thrive (FTT). The dietitian was adamant that I should stop nursing, give her 3 bottles of formula a day, etc, etc.

After talking this over with my husband (the most vociferous male supporter of nursing I’ve ever come across), I decided to check the facts once again. Here is what I found.

The Israeli Ministry of Health uses growth charts developed by the US Center for Disease Control  (CDC) in 2000. These charts were developed following observations of both breastfed and formula-fed babies. Based on these charts, my baby, who was born in the 25th percentile, dropped to the 3rd percentile by the age of one (this means that she weighs less than 97% of babies of her age).

However, in 2006 the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced new charts, reflecting the suggested development of breastfed babies. More recently, UK health authorities used WHO data to develop their own charts for nursing babies. The revised charts show that breastfed babies tend to gain weight fast in the early months, then taper off in their growth.

On WHO’s charts, my baby is in the 15th percentile, gaining significantly after her dip at the age of 6 months. Combine that with her steady growth in height and normal development and the picture becomes all that less worrisome.

What I’d like to know is how is it possible for a pediatric dietitian not to be aware of this information released over three years ago and widely available in both English and Hebrew. Furthermore, even if the Ministry of Health doesn’t deem it necessary to update the charts the way the Brits have done, why doesn’t it, at the very least, inform practitioners (including Mother and Child  Care – Tipat Chalav nurses) of these new standards?

As for us, we’ll continue to monitor our daughter’s growth. I have another appointment with the dietitian next month with printed charts ready and waiting for her perusal.

What in the World do I Feed my Kids? (Part I)

Nov 19th, 2009
by Leah.
11 comments

The other day, I took my one-year-old to a pediatric dietitian.  Over the last several months, her weight hasn’t been keeping up with her height, so the pediatrician thought it wise to get some nutritional guidance.

I got plenty of guidance at that visit, but how do I apply it? The dietitian thought I should:

  • wean the baby off breastfeeding and feed her plenty of formula
  • feed her every 4 hours (no snacks of any kind in between – not even fruit)
  • stay away from whole grains and opt for refined flours instead.

I left the office contemplating which one of the suggestions was the most bizarre.  On the face of it, the advice goes against everything we seem to know about nutrition. Whole grains are more nutritious than white, breast milk is preferable to formula, and many small meals better than three  square ones.

The last point really took me by surprise, but from conversations with several other people, including a registered dietitian, it seems that the extra fiber in whole grains interferes with absorption of certain minerals and causes babies to feel full faster, preventing them from eating more calories.

But as much as I didn’t welcome the idea of setting up a separate pantry for the little one, it was the first suggestion that left me clueless. Unlike our other four kids, this one has a host of allergies, including… milk, making milk-based formula a non-option. And as long as the jury is out on the safety of soy, I have no intention of pumping her with a quart of soy-based formula each day.

So now what do I do? Any ideas?

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