Cognitive and neurodevelopmental benefits of extended formula-feeding in infants: Re: Deoni et al 2013

The recent Deoni et al. (2013) manuscript proposed that breastfeeding was associated with increased cognitive ability and white-matter in older children (over 26 months), using ms-DESPOT MRI imaging to indirectly measure white matter in children who were either breastfed, formula fed, or combined breast+formula fed. In this response, we identify limitations in drawing causal inference among white matter, cognitive ability, and breastfeeding. We propose that the observed cognitive and neurodevelopmental differences between breastfed and formula-fed infants might actually be caused by the premature introduction of cow's milk in the second year of life, among other contributing factors. The implication of a causal relationship between intelligence and white matter metrics, especially in a developmentally young population, is premature given the recency of this field. The original analyses did not control for important covariates; when comparing both white matter and test scores, mothers were not controlled for age and socio-economic status (SES) and their children were not controlled for gender. Raw test scores, instead of age-adjusted test scores, were used even though the children were of different ages. Mothers were not controlled for reason(s) not to breastfeed, even though many prenatal factors are known to predict this such as stress, parity, obesity, and smoking habits. The observed cognitive ability and white matter benefits identified primarily within the long-term breastfed children are at least partially attributable to other factors such as age, gender, and SES. We suggest methodological approaches to removing such ambiguity, and ways to dissociate cause from effect. The formula and breastfeeding groups didn't show differences until the "formula fed" children likely had been fed cow's milk for longer than they had been fed formula, at 2.2 years. The greatest cognitive differences however were observed within the high SES breastfed infants depending on breastfeeding duration; infants who were breastfed over 15 months showed increased cognitive ability compared to those breastfed less than months. This implicates the source of dairy during the second year of life, and not other SES factors or infant formula, as the most likely nutritional factor responsible for the observed differences within the breastfed children. Given the known nutritional deficiencies of cow's milk, these findings imply infants who received cow's milk during the second year of life were at a disadvantage compared to those who were breastfed, independent of whether they were fed formula or breast milk during the first year of life. This evidence suggests that infants should receive formula in lieu of cow's milk when breast milk is unavailable as a dairy source, until roughly 2 years of age.