Risk of obscure cancer higher in formula-fed babies

The risk for developing pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia increased the longer a baby was fed formula and the longer solid foods were delayed. For every month that a child was fed formula, taking into account other feeding practices, researchers found that the risk for this type of cancer was higher. The findings of the epidemiological study, presented at the 11th Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, proposed that if a baby is fed only formula, he or she will not be getting any immune factors from the mother, which could be leading to this greater risk.

284 controls and 142 children from the Texas Children's Cancer Center and the National Children's Study in Houston, San Antonio and Austin, Texas, who had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were studied. Compared with controls, children diagnosed with ALL started solid foods significantly later, more of their mothers smoked during pregnancy and they had a longer duration of formula feeding. The risk for developing ALL increased by 16 percent for every month of formula feeding.