Oligosaccharides

A well-known manufacturer of infant formula advertises till his head spins announcing the added oligosaccharides in their food-substitute. Lovely filmed images of super baby in a glowing shield, ready to concur the Big Bad Outside World. Mom, dully grimacing, is sitting next to him. Millions are used for research and development and not the least marketing (millions that will have to be paid back and doubled by the insanely high priced end-product) to produce a not-so-well tasting and hard to digest product that only faintly mimics the original and that has the potential for more or less severe problems in the immediate or further future. Of course the original is far superior and the manufacturers of copies don’t seem to get to the ‘’copy first, then enhance’’ concept many electronic device manufacturers embraced so successfully. But, then again, we can hardly expect to be able to do so, not with all of the around 100 HMOs (Human Milk Oligosaccharides) put in their milk, each mom a bit different and a bit different for each child. And we didn’t even mention the life cells and the cells that actively search for and destroy germs. With an obvious advance like that we don’t even have to bother proving the obvious: that the substitute doesn’t even come close to the original.
Petherick A: Development: Mother's milk: A rich opportunity. Nature, 2010, 468:s5–S7; http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v468/n7327_supp/full/468S5a.html