'Save yourself a few quid!' Documentary reveals that ALL formula milk is 'nutritionally equivalent' despite the price range - and claims companies even advertise FALSE health benefits
- Kate Quilton, 35, from East London, investigates the formula milk industry
- All milk formulas have essential components which are set by official guidelines
- Despite what the labels say, many come with unsubstantiated health claims
- The Great Formula Milk Scandal: Channel 4 Dispatches airs tonight at 9pm
Kate Quilton has revealed that parents are paying a needless premium for some formula milk brands that offer the same benefits as cheaper alternatives.
In new documentary, 'The Great Formula Milk Scandal: Channel 4 Dispatches,' which airs tonight, the mother-of-one, 35, from East London, is shocked after meeting an infant-feeding specialist who claims expensive brands are nutritionally equivalent to cheaper rivals.
'One of the biggest messages we try and communicate is if you look at first formula milks on the shelf, they are all nutritionally equivalent,' Kate exclusively told Femail.
'All of these milks that say they help with bed time or will make your baby sleep for longer - there's no science to back it up. Don't be duped or lured into the trap that these are going to help you or your baby sleep for longer.'
In tonight's episode of 'The Great Formula Milk Scandal: Channel 4 Dispatches,' Kate Quilton, 35, investigates concerns behind the £40 billion formula milk industry
She continued: 'If you're thinking, "I'm going to spend more because I want the best for my baby and it says all this stuff on the box," be aware that those claims are unsubstantiated. Buy the cheapest - save yourself a few quid.'
Explaining her reasons behind the investigation into the £40 billion industry industry, Kate explained: 'We made a dispatches about breastfeeding in the Summer and when we were making that it was pretty clear from health care professionals there were a few things going on that really needed investigating.'
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'Primarily the main issue of follow-on milks is how they were essentially created to get around advertising laws. You'll find they are advertised everywhere but actually, follow-on milk isn't even necessary. You don't need it for your baby.'
Few people are aware that minimum requirements for the essential components in formula are set by official guidelines, so all formula milks have the same elements to begin with.
The mother-of-one is shocked after meeting an infant-feeding specialist who says expensive brands are nutritionally equivalent to cheaper rivals
And Kate is just one of the many woman who has fallen into the trap of buying the most expensive formula on the shelf.
Kate is advocating for clearer guidelines and more transparency on milk formula products
'I breastfed my baby so he hasn't had any formula but in any good antenatal class, they'll say, "make sure you have a box of emergency formula in the cupboard as you never know," she explained.
'So I bought myself a box of emergency formula and of course I went for the most expensive one as it claimed to have all of the health benefits on the label.'
She added: 'You're presented with all this marketing and science and think it must be right because it says it on the box. But it's not - you have to ask yourself questions.'
Some of the revelations in tonight's investigation include that Sainsbury's Little Ones formula costs £175.99 for six months of formula, while only three and a half months of SMA Pro First Formula can be bought for the equivalent cost.
But two-and-a -half months of Aptamil Profutura Stage 1 can be bought, while pre-mixed bottles of Aptamil Profutura cost £789.31 for six months.
Shel Banks, an Infant Feeding specialist who advises the NHS on some of their guidelines has some advice for parents, said: 'All we actually need in the first 12 months of life, according to our NHS, according to the World Health Organisation, is just these first stage infant milks. So these first infant milks – these are all nutritionally equivalent.
Shel Banks, an Infant Feeding specialist who advises the NHS on some of their guidelines has some advice for parents, said: 'If there was a benefit that was actually proven by independent researchers to actually be beneficial for babies then they would all have to add it by law'
'There are very clear European Food Standards Agency guidelines on the maximum and the minimum levels of everything: the proteins, the fats, the carbohydrates. There's nothing to choose between them, to pick one over another in terms of nutrition at all.
'These different ingredients that the different companies add in – they're trying to get us to buy them. They're trying to get us to pick theirs' over somebody else's.
'But the long and the short of it is: if there was a benefit that was actually proven by independent researchers to actually be beneficial for babies then they would all have to add it by law.'
In addition to making claims for marketing purposes, Kate was horrified to discover that companies are often publishing false information when it comes to health benefits, too.
'I spoke to Dr Robert Boyle, who was commissioned by a formula company to look at milk they were marketing which claimed to prevent eczema,' said Kate. 'His results found that this special formula milk didn't make any difference to eczema at all.'
She continued: 'He discovered a few months later that rather than no longer selling the milk, the company stated the direct opposite on their website. They said his work concluded that it did help prevent eczema. '
Kate was horrified to discover that companies are often publishing false information when it comes to health claims. She met with Dr Robert Boyle, who was commissioned by a formula company to look at milk they were marketing which claimed to prevent eczema, and found that such claims couldn't be proved
'For Robert, he felt terribly responsible. His name was attributed to this false health claim and it took him many years to fight them and get out of the public domain. His story isn't an anomaly.'
As a result of Kate's investigation, the British Medical Journal has revealed they will no longer accept formula milk adverts - something which the new mum has described as 'fantastic.'
'There still needs to be more regulations and transparency in the formula industry,' explained Kate. 'A change is needed and a change is coming.'
So what advice would Kate offer to parents who remain confused over the contradictory information they are being given when it comes to formula milk?
'In leaked documents which we unveil tonight, we found that for every £1 companies spend on marketing, they get £4 back,' she said.
'It's a £40 billion global industry and these companies are competing against something that is essentially free - breast milk.'
'There's no one spending billions of pounds marketing breast milk. It's really important as a parent to see beyond those marketing claims and to question what is on the box.'
The Great Formula Milk Scandal: Channel 4 Dispatches, airs Monday, March 18, on Channel 4 at 8pm
