While breastfeeding is considered the most optimal nutrition source for infants, many financial or logistical challenges come with the territory. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), just 45% of infants are exclusively breastfed at three months of age.
 
New research by a team at the University of Kansas found that many infant formulas lack an important component of human milk which may have a significant impact on long-term cognitive development, called milk fat globule membrane (MFGM). Specifically, this component had significant effects on measures of intelligence and executive function.
 
MFGM is found in all mammalian milk, which contains large fat globules that are surrounded by a membrane rich in nutrients for brain development and nutrition. When milk-based formula is manufactured, the membrane typically is removed during processing.
 
“No one thought much about the membrane until chemical analyses showed that it’s remarkably complex and full of components that potentially contribute to health and brain development,” said John Colombo, study author and KU Life Span Institute director.
 
In the study, which was published in the Journal of Pediatrics, 116 infants were either given a cow-milk based formula or a similar formula with added sources of milk fat globule membrane and lactoferrin through 12 months of age.
 
The infants’ cognitive function was measured using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. The authors also assessed inhibitory control/rule learning (Stroop Task), flexibility/rule learning (Dimensional Change Card Sort), and behavior/emotion (Child Behavior Checklist).
 
Children treated with the MFGM/lactoferrin formula had an average IQ score which was five points higher than the control group. The Wechsler Scale composite scores for visual spatial, and processing speed were also significantly higher for the MFGM/lactoferrin group than for the control group. The treatment group also had significantly higher scores in the Stroop Task, and Dimensional Change Card Sort scores. These findings persisted even after controlling for sociodemographic factors.
 
The present study was a follow-up of a previous study Colombo co-wrote with colleagues in Shanghai, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, which found that babies who were fed formula with lactoferrin had higher scores on neurodevelopmental tests during the first year and on some aspects of language at 18 months of age.
 
Because nutrition researchers have only been looking at MFGM for about a decade, and the membrane is made of several components, its’ unclear whether one component is responsible for the cognitive benefit, or if all nutrients act together to improve brain and behavioral development.