Dairy-free ‘trend’ now affects babies, critics say

Experts warn that the “dairy-free” trend popularized by millennials in recent years is now hitting kids, too.

There has been a large increase in the number of children being prescribed powdered foods, which often contain much more sugar than dairy products.

Experts said the problem is that many more babies are diagnosed with milk allergies than expected.

They warned that the increased use of specialty formulas could promote obesity and tooth decay in young children.

Researchers from Imperial College London analyzed specialty infant formula prescriptions in England, Norway and Australia.

They found that rates in England were 12 times higher than expected for the number of children with milk allergies.

Between 2007 and 2018 in the UK, prescription amounts of specialty children’s formulas tripled, with similar trends in other parts of the UK.

Co-author from Imperial, Dr. Robert Boyle said the increase may have been due to “marketing in the formula industry.”

Researchers at Imperial College London found that newborn babies in England drank around 11 million liters of expensive formula in 2018.

Amounts more than doubled in Norway between 2009 and 2020 and tripled in Australia between 2001 and 2012.

Dr. Boyle warned that the trend could increase childhood obesity.

More than a quarter of children under the age of five in the UK are overweight or obese, increasing to four in ten by the age of 11. One in four five-year-olds already has tooth decay.

Cow’s milk allergy is estimated to affect 1% of children under the age of two.

Special products have been developed as an alternative to formulas containing milk powder.

The study, published in May in the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy, tracked UK national prescribing data for children in all three countries from 1991 to 2020.

The researchers modeled the predicted prescription rate based on the assumption that one percent of all minors would need formula each year.

This was compared to actual recipe numbers for three different formula types: soy, extensively hydrolyzed formula, and amino acid formula.

With similar trends in other parts of the UK, the total number of prescriptions increased 2.8 times in the UK from 2007 to 2018.

Amino acid formulas of particular concern due to high sugar levels rose 6.7% in the country.

The number of specialist prescription formulas increased 2.2 times in Norway between 2009 and 2020 and 3.2 times in Australia between 2001 and 2012.

Dr. “These data point to a high level of milk allergy diagnosis and a major shift in young children’s diets,” Boyle said.

“The unnecessary use of special formulas can contribute significantly to free sugar consumption in young children.”

Dr. Boyle said that overdiagnosis “seems to be fueled by marketing efforts in the finished goods industry.”

Breast milk contains nutrients that protect babies from infections and even SIDS. It also reduces the risk of heart disease later in life.

Dr. “Although custom formula is fairly well tolerated by most infants and supports nutrition and growth, there are significant differences from standard formula or breast milk,” Boyle says.

«In specially formulated products, the lactose found naturally in breast milk or cow’s milk is partially or completely replaced by alternative sources of carbohydrates, usually free sugars such as glucose or sucrose.

“High free sugar intake is a major risk factor for obesity and tooth decay and a major public health problem.

“Therefore, it is conceivable that the unnecessary use of proprietary formulas could have important hitherto unexamined consequences on public health.”