HHS HealthBeat (October 06, 2008)

Seeking a formula for safety

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Babies can get a variety of illnesses – including some severe ones – from infant formula that is contaminated or prepared wrong. But a new study indicates parents need more help to understand these risks.

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and other agencies looked into this. Their study is in the journal Pediatrics.

The CDC’s Katherine Shealy says 77 percent of mothers never learned about using formula safely from health professionals:

``Almost 40 percent misunderstood infant formula types to be equivalent; so they understood powdered formula and liquid formula to be equivalent, although powdered formula is actually not a sterile product but liquid formula is.’’ (12 seconds)

The study says some formula-handling practices have improved, but more needs to be done.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: October, 06 2008