Researchers from Great Britain found out that school estimates of adolescents, which in infancy received enriched milk mixtures, no better than their peers who did not eat in childhood. Disproving the widespread myth of the article by scientists was published in The BMJ.
Previously, there was a myth that the use of enriched milk mixtures contribute to the best mental development of the child. In order to test it, researchers from London’s University College compared the performance of 1763 children who, in the framework of seven clinical trials from 1993 to 2001, were given ordinary and enriched mixtures, respectively. In two of them, additive of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid was tested, in one – iron, in two – macroelements and in two – nucleotides.
Researchers have connected these data with information on school performance and analyzed whether it was connected with the feeding by curved mixtures with the best results during the mandatory exams in English and mathematics in adolescents aged 11 and 16 years. The differences in the results of the exams between adolescents, which were fed by enriched in childhood, and their peers were not observed. Moreover, those 11-year-old schoolchildren who gave additives with long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid, were even worse than estimates. At the same time, as noted by researchers, clinical tests of dairy mixes were carried out several decades ago, and since then their composition has changed significantly.