Human milk consumption (being breastfed) during infancy is thought to give a slight cognitive advantage throughout early childhood compared to formula, independent of maternal education and intelligence scores. However, there are relatively few studies on the impact of diet on the structure and function of the developing infant brain. A recently published systematic review from the ACNC’s Budding Brains Lab quantitatively analyzed whether early diet affects infant neurodevelopment as measured by various neuroimaging tools – examining both brain’s physical structure and function. Reviewed research studies included dietary information in healthy infants and used neuroimaging techniques including or encompassing EEG and MRI. How early infant diet effects the brain’s functional development is still unclear, and more studies using functional modalities such as EEG, MEG, and fMRI in more diverse populations are needed to better address this question. Overall, human milk-fed infants tend to have stronger markers of neuromaturation than their formula-fed counterparts; however, this effect is moderated by supplementation of formula with fatty acids and other macronutrients in formula-fed infants. These differences are more subtle in full-term infants than in preterm infants.
