Scientist create 'anti-obesity' infant formula

Scientists are developing an infant formula designed to be given to babies to prevent them growing up fat, it was revealed today.

The controversial research aims to supplement baby milk with a hormone that suppresses hunger.

Animal studies suggest early exposure to the hormone leptin can programme the brain to prevent over-eating throughout life.

But fears have been raised about the safety of tampering with the brains of babies in such a fundamental way.

The infant formula, together with other "child-friendly" leptin preparations, is being developed by Professor Mike Cawthorne, director of metabolic research at the Clore Laboratory, University of Buckingham.

Prof Cawthorne has already shown that giving rats leptin supplements early in life provides permanent protection against obesity and diabetes.

His study, published in the American Journal of Physiology, found even adult animals fed a high-fat diet remained slim.

Leptin is naturally produced throughout life. But the research suggests that in infancy it "hardwires" the body's energy balance settings.

It may even determine whether someone is fat or thin before birth.

Feeding the hormone to pregnant rats seems to have a life-long impact on their offspring. Animals born of leptin-treated mothers remain lean, despite being fed a fat-laden diet. In contrast those whose mothers were untreated gain weight and develop diabetes.

Prof Cawthorne argues he is only giving babies what they would normally get anyway from their mothers' milk.

"The supplemented milks are simply adding back something that was originally present," he told Chemistry & Industry magazine, which reported on the research today. "Breast milk contains leptin and formula feeds don't."

Previous studies looking at the ability of leptin to reduce hunger in human volunteers have proved disappointing.

Prof Cawthorne believes this is because they involved adults, rather than infants. Leptin was only likely to leave its stamp on the malleable brains of babies.

"You would only take this for a short time, very early in life," said Prof Cawthorne.

However other experts remain to be convinced, and have expressed concerns about safety.

Dr Nick Finer, clinical director of the Wellcome Clinical Research Facility, at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, said: "The leap to a functional food being effective or safe is enormous. All obesities result from an excess of energy intake over energy expenditure, so any treatment must have effects on either or both arms of the equation.

"Even if this approach is shown to be valid in humans, extensive clinical trials would be needed to allow the right dose to be chosen and to show that the approach was safe. The concept that adding something to a food that could permanently alter brain development is exciting but at the same time so scary that it would mean a wholly new approach about how such treatments can be tested and approved for use. Would the first trials be in newly born children?"