October 28, 2003 NUTRITION NEWS FOCUS "Nutrition news is important. We help you understand it!" Today's Topic: Infant Feeding and Diabetes A perfect example of "when the experts disagree" appeared when two articles on the same topic were published in the same medical journal with different conclusions. The first study on almost 1,200 children in the U.S. found that infants who began eating cereals before 3 months of age or those starting cereal after 7 months were significantly more likely to develop antibodies in the blood associated with type 1 diabetes later in life. The other study on 1,600 children in Germany also found early cereal consumption, but not later, increased production of these antibodies. The studies were published in the October 1, 2003 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. < http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/290/13/1713 > < http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/290/13/1721 > HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Both studies failed to find any association between consumption of cow's milk and antibodies against insulin-producing cells. An accompanying editorial concluded that the appropriate response to these studies should be cautious interest. Only snapshots from the movie between birth and endpoints are seen in these types of studies.