14 DAY TRIAL // A new investigation carried out by Brown University researchers has shown that babies fed just breast milk during their infancy have better brain development that those given either a combination of breast milk and baby formula, or baby formula alone.
The scientists reached this conclusion after analyzing brain images of children under the age of 4.
The images were all taken with the help of MRI machines, and allowed the researchers to closely monitor how the food they received influenced the brain development of the children.
Since the children had similar socioeconomic backgrounds and were all born after a normal gestation period, differences recorded during this study could have only been the result of the type of food the babies were being given.
“We’re finding the difference in white matter growth is on the order of 20 to 30 percent, comparing the breastfed and the non-breastfed kids. I think it’s astounding that you could have that much difference so early.”
“I think I would argue that combined with all the other evidence, it seems like breastfeeding is absolutely beneficial,” specialist Sean Deoni said.