Stop Overpaying For "Premium Baby Formula"

"Now with added Vit-D", "Helps support a healthy immune system" all these things basically mean one thing "This is more expensive".

The baby formula industry is worth an astonishing $83BILLION a year.

So should you buy "premium baby formula"? Is it worth the money? Or is the "regular stuff" actually fine?

We all want what's best for our babies and we know a lot, if not most, women are concerned that they don't produce enough breastmilk for their baby. So supplementation seems the natural way to go but, where there's money to be made there are dubious claims out there.

So in this, rather short, episode I'll quickly go over some issues with these claims and explain why you're perfectly fine with normal baby formula, if your baby is healthy.

Here's the episode I did with Allison Yamamoto about Red-S

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BUT, if you decide you want to do the rest of the program, after only 5 months of paying $10/£8 a month you now get FREE LIFE TIME ACCESS! That's $50 max spend, in case you were wondering.

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Playing us out this week, more Dresden the Flamingo

Transcript

Welcome And The Big Question

Peter 0:00

Hey, welcome to the Healthy Postnatal Body Podcast of your Postnatal Expert Peter Lauf. That, as always, would be me. This is the podcast for Varawi, the the 29th of June 2026. And it's too warm again. So you know we'll make this a short one. As promised last week, I'm doing an episode on uh baby formula. Are the expensive ones better than the the cheaper ones? Is there there's a bit of a trend now coming out where people um where companies keep pushing out more and more expensive baby formulas? Do we need to buy them? Um the answer is gonna be here, right? Anyways, without further ado, here we go. Uh,

Breastfeeding Worry And Getting Help

Peter 1:11

like I said, this is one for the 29th of June 2026, and last week I promise you an episode, uh a brief one, because you know it doesn't take that long to discuss this, um about infant uh formula, baby formula, baby milk, whatever you want to call it. Um last week's episode was uh I don't know why I shouted that, um as um was an episode on breast milk production, which I did with um Ashley Lambert. Um and I've done episodes on this before how a lot of people um struggle, a lot of new parents struggle with uh understanding whether they whether they produce enough breast milk. Just actually a lot of people just struggle with breast milk production, right? Um and we discuss and have done episodes on on red ass as well, which is another again, it's another condition caused basically by just uh under eating, right? Fundamentally, then that's what it is. Um I can't top of my head remember who I did that episode with, which is a little bit annoying. I did it a few years ago. Uh I know that much. I will I will look that up. And um Alison Yamamoto, um, and that was an episode we did ages ago. Um, so yeah, but which basically the the red S thing, um, which is relative energy deficiency in sport, um, which is very common in post Python women, and Alison, uh, I will link to the episode and we'll probably put that out next week uh as a whole if you want to if you want to listen to it next week and you know boost my numbers a little bit. Um these things are kind of all all related to to undernourishment. Um, we know for instance that um 54 percent ish the last study I read was said something like 54% of women think they're not producing enough breast milk for their baby, but only 13 or 14 percent of them see a doctor about it. And so that disconnect is is is that that number difference is huge, right? So a lot of women think there's a problem, but a lot of women are also uncomfortable asking for help with uh with the what they think is a problem. Now, just be very clear, I'm not scaremongering here, right? It's um I am in very much in the Fed is best camp, as in if you can breastfeed great, and if you can't, also fine, right? That's what baby formula is for, and and and it's perfectly fine. There are benefits to breast milk, I'm not disputing any of that, but you know, make it there are also benefits to making sure your child has enough to eat. Um oh by the way, the panting you hear in the background, that's the that's a new friend we have, that's Charles. And Charles is two and a half, and he's related to Luigi and Fifi that we've had here before, and he's very excited to be here. So if you hear any pottering, that's just little Charlie. Um anyways, like I said, if you if you think you're not producing enough breast milk, always ask for help first, right? And um we know there's a shortage of like lactation consultants, especially in the NHS. Um but predominantly, if you if you think there's an issue, go see your GP. Um and if you can't produce, for whatever reason, right? Whether um you don't want to or it hurts or whatever, baby formula is great. The question I'm I'm I'm kind of dealing with here is that the thing I'm kind of dealing with here is the idea that you need to buy really special and um targeted baby formula, right?

What Infant Formula Must Contain

Peter 5:15

So for baby formula, apparently it started out and started out in uh as like a soup for in uh for infants made with uh in the olden days, what was it, cow's milk, potassium, bicarbonate, wheat and malt flour? And that was in like 1865 or something like that. So it's been around a long, long time, right? Baby uh baby formula, baby milk. Um, you know, and and baby formulas they they are fairly tightly regulated, right? It needs to have so for instance in America it needs to have 30 uh nutrients um uh at a certain minimum level, like uh iron, iodine, vitamin D, and all that type of stuff needs to be in there. Now, what you see a lot now with formulas, especially again in in the UK and in America, is is the the added. Right now with added sort of thing on the thing, and they're they're screaming about that as if as if that is somehow better. So uh prebiotics, probiotics always form always popular, right? Oh, we've added probiotics or prebiotics, um uh right, long-chain uh polyunsaturated fatty acids, all that sort of stuff, which we have them in the in Britain and in the EU, but they don't they aren't added as standard in um in American baby formula or baby milk. Um so you know it's it's

Additives And The Premium Price Trap

Peter 6:52

now we've added that is kind of what we're talking about. The the benefits usually are the same. Uh the benefits they claim are usually the same as you get with vitamin supplements, right? Uh this supports that that's what they say, this supports growth and development, healthy immune system, or um healthy gut and and all that sort of stuff. You you you've seen the you've seen the claims with regards to uh with vitamins in in in uh products targeted at uh at adults. And I spoke about this a long time ago with regards to supplementation. The claims that will support the normal functioning of right, that is always it, will support a healthy immune system. That that claim doesn't actually mean anything. That is a that is an unregulated claim that that everybody can claim that about. What what they're not saying, what they're trying to tell you what they're trying to say is this will give you a healthy immune system, and there is no evidence of that. So that's why a lot of these claims say uh helps with the support of helps with growth and development. This or supports growth and development. Yeah. So does the banana. Do you know what I mean? There is no so when when when they make claims, especially about additives, um it's always worth considering whether they are we are actually uh whether whether the claims mean anything. Now, for instance, in America, infant formulas, and it's the same in the UK, uh, as far as I know, and correct me if I'm wrong, Peter at healthy postnatal body.com. Um, I'm not sure about EU regulations on this, but infant formula are usually classified as a food and not medication. So they can basically make loads of claims um without doing any rigorous trials. We know that medications have to go through trials and testing and and proof and evidence and all that type of stuff. The claims you make with regarding regards to a food product is much broader. You can make more claims without without any sort of evidence with regards to your product to build uh to back that up. So for instance, vitamin D, like I said, which is uh you know added to to uh baby formula baby milk. Um vitamin D is good for us. Right? Fundamentally that's what it boils down to. We know that uh so the claim around the baby formula is then usually with added vitamin D helps support X, Y, Z. Right, implying that the vitamin D is good, therefore the product is good. That is kind of what what they're they're going for. Right, so you know uh the so vitamin D for bone health and all that sort of stuff, the will support bone health. Will support that that that would be the claim. So we've added vitamin D, um with will support uh the growth of healthy dense bones, however you want to call that, right? Um what they have done there is say, okay, we have evidence for vitamin D being beneficial for things. Um we've added some vitamin D, and therefore now our product will also do X, Y, Z. Whereas in medication, that would not be possible, right? In medication, you'd have to prove that the product itself actually works, the medicine actually works, but food items it's it's different. Uh, and that's an important distinction. I know it doesn't sound important, but it's it is a rather important distinction.

Evidence, Trials, And Follow The Money

Peter 11:05

Um, you know, so uh The Economist did a did an article uh about this not that long ago. I can't remember when I read it. Um but they they they did their health um health editor um did an article about that, and I can't remember what their name is, which is really annoying because I read their stuff regularly, anyways. Um and they found that most of the products uh evaluated, so the the products that made claims and all that sort of stuff didn't cite any scientific references. So most of them provided no evidence to back that up, and those that did, only half of them were clinical trials. And of those trials, only a third were registered. So that is such a tiny percentage of of evidence, right? So that there's such a tiny percentage of of products here that not actually have provided any evidence of their products backing up the claims that they do, that it we're starting to get rather skeptical, right? And then they found that under the small group of registered trials, so that is a third of a half of the three quarters, right? So that is that is such a small percentage. Most of them use uh use that that used uh like a random uh randomized comparison. They found that nine in ten claims relied on evidence the studies offers, uh of which the studies offers had a high risk of bias, and industry funding and affiliations are are the norm there, right? Who pays for the study? That that it's one of those. Now, there being a risk of bias is not necessarily an issue. The the the funding thing is uh yeah, that's normal, right? You make the product and therefore you pay for the testing, right? You see that with with most products. Um that that is there's always an element of risk there, which is not which does not mean that the claims are wrong, but it's something you kind of want to be aware of, right? Who's paying for people to say something? It's always always follow the money, follow the money first. Um especially when it comes to special claims. I'm only talking about special claims, by the way, right? Um the baby formula, again, to be very clear, baby formula is very beneficial to anyone who doesn't produce enough breast milk, to anyone who doesn't get enough um breast milk. So I'm big fan of the old baby formula with regards to that stuff. Uh, I'm just saying that with regards to the special claims of we added this and this is therefore better than that, because that comes at a premium. We added vitamin more vitamin D, and therefore you need to pay double the amount. Do you need to pay double the amount? That is what I'm talking about. And those claims, yeah, you need to sit with that a little bit. Right? So the claim itself isn't necessarily wrong, but is it worth paying twice the amount? Right. And and that's the thing, the it's it's rather it's rather all all

What Studies Say About LCPUFAs

Peter 14:32

over the place. So those, for instance, with um uh they they there there was a study or a review of 15 randomized trials, randomized trials involving uh like almost 2,000 infants, uh, in last update in 2017 found that those given formula supplemented with the LCP UFAs, um that is not long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, um had no better brain development or physical acuity than those fed less fortified formulations. Right? And and um the study, a study published in 2021 looked at British um adolescents, so British uh British people, and found that those who had been given uh supplemented formula as babies hadn't didn't have an academic edge. Now that doesn't in itself doesn't mean anything. Right? Um but it indicates that there might not be as much to the supplementation as the brand makes you think there is right and and and that is that is a thing. There was another there was another um study done uh which was published in Nutrients in 2025, which is a journal, which is like about a thousand babies, and it found um a slight but important statistically significant as they as they call it improvement in cognitive developments amongst infant-fed formula supplemented with two specific uh of the of the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Um, and those the I the ARA and the DHAs. The and the FDA notes and other studies say that you know, especially prematurely born babies may have a much larger benefit of this. So again, that that doesn't that doesn't mean that your normally healthy child needs the special stuff. This kind of is it's kind of what all this stuff usually comes down to, isn't it?

When Standard Formula Is Enough

Peter 17:00

If your child is healthy, but can't quite get enough breast milk for whatever reason, or any breast milk for whatever reason, you don't necessarily need to buy the really expensive stuff. The normal stuff will do. It's completely fine. It's it's tested, right? They are prove they've proved been proven safe in trials, and and um unless they're tampered with, right? They're completely fine. And the only cases where we've come across, then as far as I know, where where baby formula was found to be unsafe was when it was messed with or when it was diluted to such an extent. This is the the the Africa example, right? Diluted to such an extent that um I think it was Ethiopia, something like that, where they sent over baby formula and not enough, and they didn't tell teach parents how to make it. So, you know, they put too much water in and the kids still starve because of malnutrition because it was diluted too much, and and um so basically, for want of a better phrase, incorrect user usage, as they as they would call that, right? If you use it properly and it's not been messed with, most baby formulas are completely fine for normal healthy children. You don't need to spend loads of money on the expensive stuff, right? Like I said, we we know that best is is technically better with regards to infections and asthma and some evidence of allergies and all that type of stuff. Of course, it's it's it's cheaper and all that sort of thing, but if you um if you like I said, if you can't provide breast milk or for whatever reason, um then it's fine. Just use normal bulk standard formula, don't worry about the with added vitamin D. There's vitamin D in these things already, right? Um there is a minimum level of vitamin D. There's a minimum level of um the uh LCU PFAs, right? That this especially in the UK and and in the EU. You don't need more, you don't need the expensive, the complicated stuff. That's kind of all I'm saying. Um you have to do is do the best you can. Don't be scared by the marketing. These things are making an absolute I think the last the last uh thing I read said something like the baby for the market is like 83 billion dollars a year, a year, or something like that. So, you know, these people are making a lot of money off you. Um, and we really don't need to give them any more than we absolutely have to. And there's nothing done 20 minutes because you know I'm surrounded by new puppies and and uh they need a little bit more attention. I'll do the red S episode next week, um, because Alison was wonderful. Um, so there we are. Here's a

Final Takeaways And How To Reach Me

Peter 20:04

new bit of music. Uh Peter at healthy postnatal body dot com. If you have any questions or comments, and you take care of yourself. Bye now, you know.