The Mercola website has announced that his team is working to produce “the finest infant formula on the market.“
An excerpt from Dr. Mercola’s article announcing this development states:
I must admit, that when I first got wind of this news, I was puzzled.  As a Mom who breastfed her first two children for 2 years each and her youngest child for 3 1/2 years, I am definitely in full support of the “breast is best” mentality.
However, I have a very strong practical streak, which is why I also very much support a safe, healthy homemade milk based or hypoallergenic nondairy baby formula when a Mom adopts or finds herself unable to breastfeed for health reasons.
It is a very imperfect world, after all, and the best situation of a well nourished Mom who is willing and able to breastfeed is not always possible in the final analysis.
Let’s take this practical line of thought a step further. Â Suppose a nonbreastfeeding Mom is simply unwilling to take the time and effort to source the quality ingredients required to make the homemade baby formula and insists on buying commercial formula of some kind.
In that case, there is currently no brand of commercial baby formula on the market which qualifies as acceptable in the remotest sense of the word. Even Earth’s Best organic formula is completely unacceptable due to high temperature processing, use of rancid vegetable oils, nonfat milk powder and packaging in BPA laced cans.
With that in mind, Mercola’s commercial baby formula has the potential to fill a real void in the baby formula market if and only if he is able to produce a commercially available infant formula that includes:
- Low temperature dried, whole milk powder
- Coconut oil
- Non rancid, expeller pressed sunflower oil
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Lactose
- Non-industrialized cod liver oil or other natural source of vitamins A/D/K2
- Bifidobacterium Infantis (probiotic)
- Whole foods source of vitamin C such as acerola powder
- Whole food source of B vitamins such as low temp dried nutritional yeast
- Low temp dried beef gelatin
- Non BPA packaging
While such a formula would never come close to the perfection of breastmilk from a well nourished Mother or even the homemade dairy infant formula using quality, grassfed raw milk, such a commercial formula would certainly be a huge step forward in improving the disastrous quality of infant formulas on the market today. Goat milk formula or even camel milk formula is an option as well.
So, although I am skeptical, I am trying to think positively about this upcoming product release from Dr. Mercola especially since the ingredient list and processing methods have yet to be disclosed.
How do you feel about Dr. Mercola’s announcement?  Do you feel that it could be an improvement over what is available commercially today or is this a step backward in the Real Food movement’s press for more Moms to be well nourished and to choose breastfeeding or, at the very least, the homemade baby formula?
Let’s wait and see what he comes up with!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Adoptive mom here. Wish I'd had this option. I was so overwhelmed and ignorant, this would have been a welcome option.
Cara, you mean like nutramigen? I have a friend who used this .. they use soy as the protein source from what I've seen. A soy based formula is not a good choice under any circumstances – the damage does not fully show up until puberty in some cases!
My guess is that this new infant formula will be a positive thing. I doubt that most mothers who are familiar with Dr. Mercola and who care about a real food diet are also the type to choose formula over breastmilk unless it is out of necessity. I don't think that this product will actually prevent people from breastfeeding.
Side note: I have never made homemade formula, so I don't know how expensive/labor intensive/portable it is, but maybe Dr. Mercola's formula will be easier for use during traveling, or as a backup source for when a mom who normally makes her own formula just doesn't have the time.
Elemental formulas are super hypoallergenic, just free amino acids from what I can tell. I don't know much about them, I was curious if you had any thoughts.
I think this is a necessary product to have on the market. In a perfect world we would all breast feed and have vaginal easy births etc. But the last time I checked… this world is not perfect. We are a judgmental lot tho so I can understand that people open their mouths before they think of the whole picture. It doesn't matter if this formula isn't perfect from one point of view over another… It will be better than what is on the market now for sure.
Well Said!
Cara, I am not familiar with elemental formulas. What exactly do you mean by the term?
Stanley, its sunflower oil not safflower. Omega 6 oils are essential – the body cannot make them – they are as important as Omega 3 fats just in the right proportion. It is critical for a good quality, nonrancid omega 6 oil to be included in an excellent quality baby formula (of which there are NONE right now .. maybe Mercola can change that).
^^ Stanley- It's *sunflower* oil, and babies need omega 6 too, just like we all do, but in 1:1 balance with omega 3. Can't just leave it out of a babies diet.
Oh my gosh, he's probably going to put his krill oil in it, yikes! (and lol) If he put CLO in it, it would be like downstanding his position on CLO vs Krill oil.
Why would you include safflower oil in your list of ingredients?
I am not saying it is wrong, I would just like to know why you include it, as it is very high in omega 6 and a modern vegetable oil.
Look again, it is sunflower oil that is included, not safflower. The processing method is also very important with the sunflower. Totally an easy mistake to make at a glance.