Neocate monitoring is recommended to catch rickets, broken bones and other skeletal problems before they become much worse.

Neocate baby formulas are commonly given to children with allergies or intolerances that cannot have normal formula. The “elemental” formulas are broken down into amino acids in order to avoid reactions to certain proteins found in milk and soy.

Nutricia North America manufactures the products and touts them as formulas which are “nutritionally complete for infants 0-12 months” and “support normal growth and development.” Products in the Neocate line include Neocate Syneo Infant, Neocate Infant DHA/ARA, Neocate Nutra, Neocate Junior, Neocate Junior with Probiotics, and Neocate Splash.

Although these “hypoallergenic” formulas may seem like a good option, new allegations suggest that long term use may lead to skeletal problems requiring Neocate monitoring.

In April 2017, a Neocate monitoring study was published in the journal Bone, revealing that 51 children who were fed Neocate as their primary source of food commonly suffered from skeletal issues.

According to the study, which was conducted by Yale University and the Mayo Clinic, 94 percent of the children who underwent Neocate monitoring were found to have rickets, broken bones, or a condition known as hypophosphatemia.

Phosphate is a crucial mineral in the building of strong bones, and a 2002 study even found that it was as important as calcium to bone health. Hypophosphatemia is a condition involving a decreased level of phosphate in the blood.

Symptoms of hypophosphatemia include poor appetite, irregular breathing, weight gain, weight loss, and muscle weakness. This condition is allegedly to blame for the skeletal issues seen in the Neocate monitoring study.

Rickets, one of the conditions reportedly seen in Neocate monitoring, involves soft or weak bones. Symptoms of rickets may include pain, poor growth, muscle weakness, thickened wrists or ankles, bowed legs, and a projecting breastbone. These deformities may require surgery to correct but some pay be permanent.

Researchers in the study noted that “most all improved with the addition of supplemental phosphate or change to a different formula.”

In 2016, Nutricia warned: “Serum levels of micronutrients, particularly phosphorus, should be routinely monitored by clinicians when Neocate is used as a primary or sole source of nutrition for patients with complex systemic disease involving multiple diagnoses and intestinal disease, especially in combination with tube feeding and/or a history of prematurity.”

However, some consumers claim that these warnings were not sufficient and that Nutricia should have specifically informed parents of the scientific Neocate monitoring study result.

Consumers claim that Nutricia knew or should have known about the risks uncovered by Neocate monitoring but failed to sufficiently warn parents of the risks their children may be exposed to.

Parents of children may even run into legal trouble if their children’s Neocate problems result in repeated broken bones. Chronic bone breakage is often a warning sign of abuse, so children repeatedly treated for broken bones may draw the attention of the authorities. This exact situation happened to a Mississippi father whose children were almost taken from him before authorities realized the fractures could be related to the child’s all-Neocate diet.