IFC Response to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2011 Vital Signs Report
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International Formula Council* (IFC) supports breastfeeding as the ideal choice for infant feeding. IFC also supports the right of parents to choose the feeding option for their baby that best fits their individual family situation. For those mothers who cannot or choose not to breastfeed, infant formula is the only safe, nutritious, and recommended alternative.
Although breastfeeding does offer specific child and maternal health benefits, statements that breastfeeding lowers the risk of some chronic diseases lack scientific consensus because the research results have been mixed, and the studies do not reveal a cause and effect relationship. For chronic illnesses such as obesity and diabetes, environmental and genetic factors may play a major role in disease development. Moreover, the decision to breastfeed is associated with other lifestyle variables that may themselves influence disease risk.
Parents should be encouraged to breastfeed and fully supported in that decision. Additionally, parents deserve accurate information, particularly from official government agencies, about all appropriate infant feeding options to help ensure optimal nutrition and overall wellbeing, regardless of whether they choose to breastfeed or formula feed their infant.
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*The International Formula Council is an association of manufacturers and marketers of formulated nutrition products, e.g., infant formulas and adult nutritionals, whose members are based predominantly in North America. IFC members are: Abbott Nutrition; Mead Johnson Nutrition; Nestle Infant Nutrition; PBM Products, LLC, A Perrigo Company; and Pfizer Nutrition.