Question about the DHA and ARA in baby formula?

Question

Has anyone ever heard of the DHA and ARA in formula causing baby's to be gassy? I have a 2month old and I have tried every formula (soy, lactose free, gentlease, sensitive, and hypoallergenic) and nothing works he still grunts and is very gassy. After looking at the labels the one thing that all formulas seem to have in common is the DHA and ARA. Do you think that this could be causing my sons grunting and gas?

Answer 1

Yes, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that some babies are sensitive to the DHA/ARA in formula.  I would try a formula without DHA/ARA and see if that helps.  (Or consider relactating if that's a possibility for you.)

Answer 2

http://www.ibfan.org/site2005/Pages/arti...

The report, Replacing Mother—Imitating Human Breast Milk in the Laboratory, details research questioning the alleged benefits of adding "novel" omega-3 fatty acids, produced in laboratories and extracted from algae and fungus, into infant formulas.  The additives raised health and safety red flags during preapproval testing while aggressive marketing campaigns by some infant formula manufacturers appear to have encouraged new mothers to give up nursing for the questionable infant products.



"When I worked in the hospital´s neonatal ward, the nurses all called it ´the diarrhea formula´," says Sam Heather Doak, LPN, IBCLC, from Marietta, Ohio. "We´ve seen infants, tiny little humans, with diarrhea that just wouldn´t stop after being given this formula."  For infants, virulent and long-term diarrhea is considered a serious and life-threatening medical episode.



The infant formula referenced by Doak was supplemented with Martek Biosciences Corporation´s laboratory-produced oils containing DHA and ARA. DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid, and ARA, an omega-6 fatty acid, are naturally found in human breast milk and are considered important nutrients for rapidly developing infants.



But laboratory-produced DHASCO and ARASCO (Martek´s names for their proprietary oils) are materially different from the fats found in a mother´s breast milk. Martek´s products are extracted from fermented algae and fungus, with the use of the synthetic solvent hexane, a neurotoxic chemical.  They contain only 40 to 50% DHA and ARA, with the balance being sunflower oil, diglycerides, and nonsaponifiable materials. Some of these components are not found in human breast milk, and the triglycerides carrying DHA and ARA are not identical to those found in human breast milk—and have never been part of the diet for human infants.



Infant formula manufacturers suggest that DHA and ARA oils in formula are necessary to support proper development, yet serious doubts persist within the scientific community regarding whether these oils actually confer any long-term benefits to an infant´s brain and eye development.

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.ph...

Once again the FDA has failed to protect health in the US. This time, by allowing toxic imitation nutrients derived from hexane, a known carcinogen, to be added to baby formula (in biologically insufficient amounts, by the way), they have compromised the health of infants who are known to experience severe diarrhea and abdominal distress, sometimes requiring hospital intervention, after drinking these products.

The actual report:

http://cornucopia.org/DHA/DHA_FullReport...

Answer 3

Yes, it could be.

  I actually did a research paper and saw many articles about DHA and ARA.  The DHA and ARA they add to formula is not the same as the kind a baby would get from breastmilk.  The kind in formula is manufactured from algae.

Many doctors are not even sure if the DHA and ARA in formula are really safe.  Personally, if your baby is having an issue with it, try a formula without it.

If that doesn't work and he's still having problems, then try to relactate and breastfeed.  It's so much better for him anyway.  You actually might want to relactate anyway rather than trying all the formulas on the market.

Answer 4

yes! When my first baby was born almost 7 yrs ago the formulas did not have the dha/ara in them, and he was never gassy, and rarely spat up. My second baby now uses the dha/ara formulas, and he was a very gassy infant.