Infants receiving formula supplemented with DHA performed better on a cognitive test than infants who were given formula without it. DHA occurs naturally in breast milk.

    But while doctors say the evidence may support formula containing a DHA supplement over formula without one, they are concerned that the study may be the first test toward marketing a replacement for breast milk. The formula used in the study was provided to the researchers by a manufacturing company for free.

    A woman is shown breast-feeding her child, left, and another giving her baby a bottle with formula.

    One pediatrician notes that in her own practice, some mothers are convinced that formula with DHA can be superior to breast milk.

    The marketing has actually dissuaded mothers from choosing exclusive breast-feeding, which is preferred from all the outcomes that we understand.

    Simply adding DHA -- while it may top other infant formula -- would not make it superior to breast milk.

    There are many other factors in human milk that also support neurocognitive development and visual acuity.

    It is clear that the food industry fascination with nutraceuticals （strategically fortified food products） is now spreading into infant formula. This is a disturbing new development. Now parents will be encouraged to forego breast-feeding -- which is optimal for both mothers and babies -- in favor of a hyped up infant formula.

    Breast milk has other benefits not related to mental development. Breast-feeding confers protection against infection, including viral infections, and the CDC promotes breast-feeding to confer maximal protection against swine flu and other infections.

    Furthermore, because infants who display superior performance on the means-end problem solving task tend to have superior IQ and vocabulary later in childhood, it's possible that the beneficial effects of DHA extend well beyond infancy.

    In the contentious field of breast-feeding, sharp replies to anything suggesting a replacement for breast milk are almost inevitable.

    食用補(bǔ)充了二十二碳六烯酸配方奶粉的嬰兒，在認(rèn)知能力測(cè)試上的表現(xiàn)要比食用不含此類物質(zhì)的嬰兒更好。二十二碳六烯酸天然存在于母乳中。

    但是，盡管醫(yī)生表明，這一證據(jù)可以支持包含二十二碳六烯酸增補(bǔ)劑的配方奶粉優(yōu)于不含該物質(zhì)的配方奶粉的說(shuō)法，他們?nèi)匀粨?dān)心這項(xiàng)研究可能成為市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷母乳替代品的第一次試驗(yàn)。研究中使用的配方奶粉是由一家生產(chǎn)企業(yè)免費(fèi)提供給研究人員的。

    顯示一名婦女正在哺乳自己的孩子，左邊，另一名婦女正用奶瓶給她的孩子喂配方奶粉。

    一位兒科醫(yī)生指出，在她自己的實(shí)踐中，一些母親確信含二十二碳六烯酸的配方奶粉可能優(yōu)于母乳。

    這一市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷實(shí)際上勸阻了母親們選擇獨(dú)一無(wú)二的母乳喂養(yǎng)方式，這一優(yōu)于我們了解的所有研究成果的方式。

    僅僅添加二十二碳六烯酸――盡管可能優(yōu)于其它的嬰兒配方奶粉――并不能使它優(yōu)于母乳。

    人奶中有很多其它因素還可以促進(jìn)神經(jīng)認(rèn)知能力的發(fā)展和視覺(jué)敏銳性。

    很顯然，伴隨著營(yíng)養(yǎng)食品（戰(zhàn)略性強(qiáng)化食品）而來(lái)的食品工業(yè)的魅力正在蔓延到嬰兒配方奶粉上來(lái)。這是一個(gè)令人不安的新的發(fā)展。現(xiàn)在家長(zhǎng)們會(huì)被鼓勵(lì)放棄母乳喂養(yǎng)--它對(duì)母親和嬰兒都有好處--用方興未艾的嬰兒配方奶粉代替。

    母乳還有與智力發(fā)育無(wú)關(guān)的其它方面的好處。母乳育嬰可提供防感染保護(hù)，包括病毒感染，并且疾病預(yù)防控制中心大力推進(jìn)母乳喂養(yǎng)，以便為預(yù)防豬流感及其他傳染病提供最大的保護(hù)。

    此外，由于那些在"手段--目的"類問(wèn)題解決任務(wù)上表現(xiàn)優(yōu)秀的嬰兒往往在兒童期后期具有較高的智商和詞匯量，二十二碳六烯酸的有利影響可能遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)嬰兒時(shí)期。

    在有爭(zhēng)議的母乳喂哺領(lǐng)域，不贊成任何替代母乳的建議幾乎是不可避免的。