Like
Ms. Chase, many American parents have rushed to embrace Similac Organic
formula, even though it sells for as much as 30 percent more than
regular Similac. In 2007, its first full year on sale, it captured 36
percent of the organic formula market, with sales of more than $10
million, according to Kalorama Information, a pharmaceutical-industry
research firm. (Similac’s parent company, Abbott
Laboratories, does not release sales figures for individual products.)
Parents
may be buying it because they believe that organic is healthier, but
babies may have a reason of their own for preferring Similac Organic:
it is significantly sweeter than other formulas. It is the only major
brand of organic formula that is sweetened with cane sugar, or sucrose,
which is much sweeter than sugars used in other formulas.
No
health problems in babies have been associated with Similac Organic.
But to pediatricians, there are risks in giving babies cane sugar:
Sucrose can harm tooth enamel faster than other sugars; once babies get
used to its sweeter taste, they might resist less sweet formulas or
solid foods; and some studies suggest that they might overeat, leading
to rapid weight gain in the first year, which is often a statistical
predictor of childhood obesity.
Asked about these concerns, Carolyn Valek, a spokeswoman for Abbott Nutrition, the division of Abbott Laboratories that makes Similac Organic, said that sucrose had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration
and was considered “safe and well established.” Ms. Valek said that
Similac Organic had no more sweetener than other formulas and that
prolonged contact with any kind of sugar could cause tooth decay.
In Europe,
where sudden increases in childhood obesity are a pressing public
health issue, sucrose-sweetened formulas will be banned by the end of
2009, except when ordered by a doctor for babies with severe allergies. The 27 countries of the European Union
adopted the new rules according to the recommendations of the group’s
Scientific Committee on Food, which found that sucrose provided no
particular nutritional advantages, could, in rare cases, bring about a
fatal metabolic disorder, and might lead to overfeeding.
The
F.D.A., however, which regulates infant formula, does not specify which
sugars can be used, as long as they are already classified as safe. Nor
does it set the amount of sugar per serving, as it does for fats and
proteins.
Still, a number of pediatricians said they were surprised by the choice of sucrose.
“I
would be very concerned about this as a pediatrician,” said Dr.
Benjamin Caballero, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and an expert in risk
factors for childhood obesity. “The issue is that sweet tastes tend to
encourage consumption of excessive amounts,” Dr. Caballero said.
Evidence shows that babies and children will always show a preference
for the sweetest food available, he said, and they will eat more of it
than they would of less-sweet food.
“This is how breakfast cereal manufacturers compete,” he said.
Ms.
Valek of Abbot Nutrition said the company did not “optimize for taste”
when developing infant formula. “Our primary focus is to support normal growth through optimal nutrition and quality ingredients,” she said.
Organic
formula, with sales of about $20 million annually, makes up only a
sliver of the $2.5 billion formula market, according to A.C. Nielsen,
the market research company. Similac Organic, analysts say, is largely
responsible for the nearly tenfold growth in sales of organic formula
from 2005 to 2007. According to the federal Department of Agriculture,
which regulates organic labeling, a product can be labeled organic when
95 percent of its ingredients are grown without the use of certain pesticides and herbicides.
“The
parents in my practice who would use organic formula are the same
parents who would be worried about giving sweets to their babies,” said
Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, a member of the nutrition committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “That organic formula would be sweeter might not be a health risk, but it certainly isn’t what the parents have in mind.”
Kim Kupferman, a technology consultant in San Leandro, Calif.,
said she tended to trust the organic label. Her 7-month-old daughter,
Saige, eats Similac Organic and a few organic solid foods. “But sugar
is a concern for us — that’s why we started her on vegetables rather
than fruits, so she wouldn’t get used to the sweet taste first.” Ms.
Kupferman said, adding that she might re-evaluate her choice of
formula.
Many
doctors have long believed that all sugars, from raw cane to highly
processed high-fructose corn syrup, are nutritionally identical. But
others disagree. Ivan de Araujo, a fellow at the John B. Pierce
Laboratory at Yale University School of Medicine, a center for sensory research, said scientists were beginning to tease out the differences.
“Recent
studies show that animals have a clear preference for sucrose over
other sugars,” Dr. Araujo said. And eating sucrose, he said, generates
future cravings for sucrose; other sugars tested, like fructose and
glucose, do not have the same long-term effect.
The sweeter taste of Similac Organic was observed by a professional sensory-tasting panel, commissioned by The New York Times
to do a blind tasting of eight nationally available formulas, soy and
dairy, organic and not. Seven of the formulas were as sweet as
unsweetened apple juice, said Gail Civille, the director of Sensory
Spectrum, which performed the tests. Ms. Civille said Similac Organic
was the sweetest, with “the sweetness of grape juice or Country Time
lemonade."
Doctors
say that parents need not worry about the precise composition of
formula, because the product over all has been proved safe and
effective. But many questioned Similac’s choice of cane sugar, which
has been gradually disappearing from infant formula since the 1950s.