A latest study has shown that special baby formula sold in the UK supermarkets doesn’t reduce the risk of suffering from eczema and allergies. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) funded study has discovered that hydrolysed formula doesn’t offer any advantage to babies vulnerable to allergies. It is a kind of formula treated with heat for the breakdown of milk protein.

The advice of European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) is generally followed by British clinicians, and it has said that babies at risk of developing an allergy can be recommended a hypoallergenic formula during the first four months after birth.

A review of the proof has been published by the Cochrane Library. It also suggested that hydrolysed formula decreases the chances of allergy, like milk allergy. However, the latest research headed by Imperial College London has discovered no such protective effect.

Published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the study evaluated data from 37 distinct trials into hydrolysed baby formula. The study detected no major decrease in the risk of contracting eczema, wheezing, or food allergy, which includes cow's milk allergy.

The paper has also shed light on the conflicts of interest in numerous studies, because of the financial relations with the manufacturers of the baby formula.

Study senior author, Dr Robert Boyle from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, mentioned that leading brands like Aptamil Comfort and SMA Comfort wouldn’t offer any protection for babies vulnerable to allergy.

Dr. Boyle said, “Despite parents being advised these hydrolysed milk formulas may reduce the risk of conditions such as milk allergy and eczema, we found no evidence to support these claims”.

According to Dr. Boyle, the new study, containing over 19,000 participants, was the most complete and strong assessment so far.