Adding Insulin to Baby Formula

Breast-fed babies usually have fewer infections, the incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is much less, and colic and other digestive problems are usually less prevalent because mother’s milk is easier to digest, but Shehadeh’s research kept coming back to the need for insulin, as he and others observed the higher incidence of the disease among children who had not been breast-fed. The result of their research led to InsuMeal, a bioactive insulin protein that can be added to commercial infant formulas to make them closer to mother’s milk. “When a premature bottle-fed baby is given insulin-enhanced formula, its GI tract interacts with insulin and matures faster,” Shehadeh told ISRAEL21c, adding that the insulin does not go into the blood and interfere with the natural sugar/insulin balance.

“The reason insulin is not in baby formula is because it is very sensitive to heat and mechanical stress and usually destroyed in formulas. We developed a new technology to keep the insulin bioactive.” said Shehadeh. InsuMeal is comprised of a mixture of insulin, vitamin C, and maltodextrin, a carbohydrate derived from starch. The technology microencapsulates the mixture (so that it stays bioactive) and creates a powder. It can then be added to any commercial formula.

For more information: n_shehadeh@rambam.health.gov.il

Adapted from an article by Sharon Kanon, www.israel21c.org