Amy Chase started feeding Similac Organic infant formula to her second son, Amos, as soon as he was born in November 2006. “When I saw the organic at Publix, I bought it, no questions asked,” said Chase, a self-described “yoga mom” in Atlanta.
Many American parents have rushed to embrace Similac Organic formula. In 2007, its first full year on sale, it captured 36 percent of the organic formula market, with sales of more than $10 million, according to Kalorama Information, a pharmaceutical-industry research firm.
More Top Picks Best Roof Sealants
Parents may be buying it because they believe that organic is healthier, but babies may have a reason of their own for preferring Similac Organic: It is significantly sweeter than other formulas. It is the only major brand of organic formula that is sweetened with cane sugar, or sucrose, which is much sweeter than sugars used in other formulas.
No health problems in babies have been associated with Similac Organic. But to some pediatricians, there are risks in giving babies cane sugar: They might resist less-sweet formulas or solid foods, and some studies suggest that they might overeat, leading to rapid weight gain in the first year, often a statistical predictor of childhood obesity.
Carolyn Valek, a spokeswoman for Abbott Nutrition, the division of Illinois’ Abbott Laboratories that makes Similac Organic, said that sucrose had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and was considered “safe and well established.” She said that Similac Organic had no more sweetener than other formulas and that prolonged contact with any kind of sugar can cause tooth decay.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a product can be labeled organic when 95 percent of its ingredients are grown without certain pesticides and herbicides.
All infant formulas contain added sugars, which babies need to digest the proteins in cow’s milk or soy.
“The parents in my practice who would use organic formula are the same parents who would be worried about giving sweets to their babies,” said Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, a member of the nutrition committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “That organic formula would be sweeter might not be a health risk, but it certainly isn’t what the parents have in mind.”