Predicting the Development of Type 2 Diabetes

Despite current scientific evidence that artificial feeding is a harmful practice, unquestioned acceptance of breastfeeding as the normal or "default" method of infant feeding remains elusive in the industrialised world. Throughout the developing world the profound consequences of the aggressive marketing strategies of the infant formula industry since the end of the Second World War is well known. A key objective of the International Breastfeeding Journal is to promote breastfeeding through addressing issues that encourage breastfeeding initiation, duration and effective management. Informing this aim is the recognition of artificial feeding as a harmful practice that places infant health at risk. From this perspective it would be unethical for this journal to accept for publication any manuscript that has received funding, sponsorship or any other means of support from infant formula manufacturers. This stance is consistent with the journal's aim of supporting, protecting and promoting breastfeeding. It will also contribute to the promotion of a breastfeeding culture. Editorial Despite current scientific evidence that artificial feeding is a harmful practice [1], unquestioned acceptance of breastfeeding as the normal or "default" method of infant feeding [2] remains elusive throughout the industrialised world. The dominance of an infant formula feeding culture is evident through popular beliefs such as "artificial milk feeds [are]...at least as good for the baby (if not actually better) as breast feeding", and ambivalent views associated with "give it a go" attitudes [3]. This lack of a breastfeeding culture in most industrialised nations is the legacy of decades of commercial marketing of infant formula, often endorsed by medical practices [4]. Throughout the developing world the profound consequences of the aggressive marketing strategies of the infant formula industry particularly since the end of the Second World War is well known. Public awareness of the tragic outcome of the use of infant formula in the developing world led to a consumer boycott of Nestlé products during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Around this time the first of a series of international strategies designed to reduce infant mortality rates through regulating the promotion of artificial baby milk was implemented. In 1981, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes [5]. The aim of the International Code was "to contribute to the provision of safe and adequate nutrition for infants, by the protection and promotion of breast-feeding, and by ensuring the proper use of breast-milk substitutes, when these are necessary, on the basis of adequate information and through appropriate marketing and disPublished: 6 March 2007 International Breastfeeding Journal 2007, 2:5 doi:10.1186/1746-4358-2-5 Received: 31 January 2007 Accepted: 6 March 2007 This article is available from: http://www.internationalbreastfeedingjournal.com/content/2/1/5 © 2007 Beasley and Amir; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.