Side effects related to alternative baby formulas used with infants intolerant of soy or cow’s milk products may lead to broken bones.

According to an abstract of a study published in the medical journal Bone in April 2017, a high incidence of Neocate broken bones as well as cases of rickets, hypophosphatemia, and hypocalcemia were reported among children that were completely nutritionally reliant upon elemental amino-acid based formulas.

Rickets is a medical disorder in which the weight-bearing bones of infants and children are soft, weak, and prone to deformity. On the far end of the spectrum of rickets development, one might see symptoms of broken bones, bowed legs, protruding breastbone, malformed skull and curved spine.

Rickets is most often connected to a bodily deficiency in vitamin D. Other potential causes are calcium and phosphate deficiencies. Calcium and phosphates are the twin building blocks of a healthy skeletal structure.

Closely related to rickets is hypophosphatemia, or low phosphates in the blood. A shortage of phosphates can also lead to broken bones and skeletal deformities.

Other symptoms which might be more subtle and difficult for a parent to notice or ascertain the cause of include fatigue, muscle weakness, confusion and irritability, tooth decay, and bone pain.

Problems with Elemental Baby Formula

Parents that chose to feed their child one of Neocate’s elemental alternative formula’s were led to believe that the products were of adequate nutritional value and complete in terms of what their child needed to grow and thrive. In the U.S., the formula has been marketed under several names including Neocate Syneo Infant, Neocate Splash, Neocate Junior Probiotic, Neocate EO28 Splash, Neocate Junior, Neocate Infant DHA/ARA and Neocate Nutra.

The data from the Bone article found 51 infants and children sustained on Neocate products for some time to be suffering from hypophosphatemia and, in some instances, Neocate broken bones. Of all reported individual case studies, 94 percent had experienced poor absorption from the elemental formulas and their bones were under-mineralized, the researchers reported.

In most cases, switching to another formula or supplementing Neocate with more absorbable mineral sources helped to reverse course with children found to have bone problems.

Nevertheless, treatment for Neocate broken bones or advanced deformities, stunted growth, or other under-mineralization issues can be very expensive and financially burdensome to parents. The pain and suffering of watching their child endure what could have easily been prevented can also be especially difficult.

In some cases, Neocate side effects can have extreme consequences. Early in 2018, a father of a 10-year old that was completely sustained on elemental formula due to cerebral palsy took his son to the emergency room with two inexplicable broken bones. A potential child abuse investigation was initiated until the child’s sister saw a lawyer’s advertisement about Neocate broken bones on the television and relayed the information to her dad.