A growing number of parents are expressing concerns about a diagnosis of rickets or hypophosphatemia. These parents might be interested to learn that the use of the baby formula Neocate has been associated with a potential diagnosis of rickets. Rickets is a serious medical condition that should prompt parents to get medical attention immediately.

What Is Rickets?

Rickets is a medical diagnosis referring to the weakening or the softening of bones in children. According to the Mayo Clinic, this condition is typically associated with prolonged and severe vitamin D deficiency, although it can also be caused due to inherited issues

How Does A Lack of Vitamin D Contribute to Rickets?

Vitamin D is critical for helping a young child’s body to absorb phosphorous and calcium from food. An improper amount of vitamin D can make it difficult for the child to maintain appropriate phosphorus and calcium levels in their bones, ultimately leading to a diagnosis of rickets.

What Are the Early Symptoms of Rickets?

Symptoms and signs of rickets can include muscle weakness, delayed motor skills, delayed growth, pain in the pelvis, spine or legs, thickened wrists and ankles, breast bone projection and knock knees.

What Are A Child’s Risk Factors for Rickets?

There are many different risk factors that can contribute to a child’s likelihood of developing rickets. One of the latest ones to emerge in consumer reports and academic literature has to do with the use of the Neocate baby formula.

According to some studies on the side effects of Neocate diets, as many as 94 percent of children fed this formula may experience bone undermineralization, bone fractures, or rickets. Children who are taken off of a Neocate diet may find their condition to improve.

The Neocate baby formula is popular among parents who have children with severe allergies to other types of formula. Other risk factors that can increase the child’s chance of rickets include premature birth, a mother’s vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy, dark skin, exclusive breastfeeding, and certain medications.

What Are the Complications Associated with Rickets?

Rickets, if left untreated and undiagnosed by doctors, can lead to seizures, an abnormally curved spine, bone deformities, and dental defects, and failure to grow.

What Is the Recommended Amount of Vitamin D?

According to the Neocate website, the Institute of Medicine recommends that all age groups obtain some form of vitamin D. For adults this is 600 IU per day and infants should receive 400 IU per day.

Vitamin D can be obtained through sun exposure. However, many children do not receive enough of it from outdoor exposure to achieve the recommended daily amounts. This means that children must take supplements or obtain it from their diet.

What Is Neocate?

Neocate is an amino acid-based, or “elemental” formula. Amino acids are the basic building blocks of the proteins that are necessary for normal, healthy growth and development. Infant formulas such as Neocate provide these amino acids in their simplest, most basic form; as such they are very easy for young digestive systems to process.

Why Do Parents Feed Their Children Neocate?

Pediatricians recommend elemental formulas for infants and children who, for whatever reason, are unable to digest and process regular foods because of allergies. These allergic reactions can be specific to certain foods such as soy and/or dairy products, or general in nature. Food allergies may also be caused by certain medical conditions, including:

• eosinophilic esophagitis (allergic inflammation of the esophagus due to the abnormal presence of antibodies)
• gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
• short bowel syndrome (also known as “short gut syndrome” in which the small intestine is damaged or missing, resulting in malabsorption)

Elemental formulas may also be indicated when a child is being transitioned from intravenous feeding to regular food. Such formulas require a doctor’s prescription.

What Are Parents Saying About Neocate?

Parents are alleging that Neocate infant formula did not come with an appropriate warning about the possibility for children to develop rickets and other associated medical conditions. Many of these parents say that they were not properly informed about the risks and assumed that Neocate was safe and effective for use with their children.

In addition to rickets, low phosphorus and calcium levels in the bones can also lead to bone weakness and fragility. In one case of a child who was fed a Neocate diet, this malnutrition led him to develop unexplained bone fractures. In 2017, Robbie R., age ten, was diagnosed with a fractured wrist. Due to health conditions, Robbie had been fed a Neocate diet. However, his father did not realize that there was a link between Neocate and the potential for broken bones. After a second broken bone was discovered a few months following his fractured wrist and his father was not able to explain how it occurred, the Department of Child Protective Services opened a case, suspecting Robbie’s father of child abuse. It was only after another family member saw an advertisement warning of the possible bone side effects of Neocate that his name was cleared.

Taking Neocate as the primary source of nutrition for children has shown some potential issues with the development of rickets. Many parents who are not aware of this connection might not realize that their child has developed hypophosphatemia; parents who see strange side effects should report these to a doctor immediately.

Parents of children on Neocate diets may want to be aware of the possible symptoms of hypophosphatemia in order to keep an eye out for potential health effects. These symptoms may include fatigue, muscle weakness, bone pain, bone fractures, tooth decay, appetite loss, or irritability.

Are There Alternatives to Neocate?

Other elemental formula brands available in the U.S. are:

• EleCare
• Enfamil
• Extensive NA
• Gerber (Good Start)
• Pure Amino
• Similac

There are several different types of elemental formulas available, each of which address specific nutritional needs. You will need to consult with your pediatrician in order to determine which one best meets your child’s needs.