Cow’s Milk Preemie Formula and Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC)

Any C or NEC, as you know, those terms are kind of interchangeable, it is a profound GI disease that impacts almost exclusively the preemie population for babies. We believe the connection between the infant formulas for premature babies and those suffering from NEC has to do with the fact that premature babies have an underdeveloped digestive system. So their ability to digest formulas that aren’t as easy for the digestive system as, say, breast milk becomes a problem. If you’re a full term baby and you’re able to, you’ve got a fully developed digestive tract, you can handle things other than just breast milk. But if you’re a premature baby and you’ve got a underdeveloped GI system, it’s not the case. And the formulas used for premature babies typically are made from cow’s milk and they primarily have ingredients like carbs, proteins and fats that aren’t broken down enough for a premature baby’s digestive system. So what happens basically in layman’s term is that formula hits the baby’s stomach, it does not get digested enough by the time it hits the intestines, and when it gets into the intestines that formula attracts bacteria and the bacteria colonizes around it, it results in inflammation of the interior intestinal wall and results in the antecedent condition that premature babies typically are not able to fight off.