Breast milk vs. formula and autism: Kost et al conducted a study on 90 infants who, in the first 3 months of life, were fed with either breast milk (n=37) or with formula containing cow milk (n=53). Researchers were interested in analyzing casomorphins (protein fragments, derived from the digestion of milk protein casein) levels during the first year of life. Researchers found that bovine BCM-7, a small milk opioid peptide, is present in the blood of infants fed cow’s milk formula and that the higher blood levels found in some infants correlated with delays in psychomotor development and for other diseases such as autism. Therefore the research suggests that breast feeding has an advantage over artificial feeding for infants’ development during the first year of life. (6)
