"Offering your baby a special formula when weaning off breastfeeding may offer some protection against the development of the antibodies associated with type  diabetes if you have a family history of the disease new research suggests.  When Finnish researchers randomly assigned  babies at high risk of type  diabetes to receive either a regular infant formula or one that was extensively hydrolyzed  which means the proteins in the formula are already partially broken down and more readily available for digestion  they found that the extensively hydrolyzed formula cut the rate of developing diabeteslinked antibodies in the blood by about half. We observed that early dietary intervention with extensively hydrolyzed formula decreased the frequency of diabetesassociated autoantibodies which are markers of an ongoing disease process by about  percent by the age of  years said the studys lead author Dr. Michael Knip a professor of pediatrics at the Hospital for Children and Adolescents in Helsinki Finland.  The results of the study were published in the Nov.  issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Type  diabetes is an autoimmune disease which means the bodys immune system mistakenly turns against healthy insulinproducing cells in the pancreas instead of a foreign material such as bacteria. No one knows for sure what causes this process to begin but some research suggests that the initial autoimmunity may begin early in life.  Five immune system autoantibodies have been linked to type  diabetes. Having one of these antibodies isnt a guarantee that youll develop type  diabetes but it does indicate an increased risk for the disease. People who have two or more type  antibodies have between a  and  percent risk of developing type  diabetes according to background information in the study.  Previous research has suggested that breastfeeding may offer some protection against the development of these antibodies possibly because breastfeeding delays the introduction of infant formula which contains complex proteins. Formula may somehow trigger the development of autoantibodies as these proteins are broken down for digestion.  The current study was randomized and doubleblind meaning neither the parents nor the researchers knew who was getting what and compared regular baby formula to one that was made easier for babies to digest because the proteins were broken down extensively hydrolyzed.  Babies were offered the formula during the first  to  months of life any time breastfeeding wasnt available. They were then followed till they were about  years old according to the study.  After adjusting the data to try to account for the duration of exposure to one of the study formulas the researchers found that the extensively hydrolyzed formula reduced the risk of having one diabetes autoantibody by  percent and the risk of having two or more autoantibodies by  percent.  How the highly hydrolyzed formula might reduce the risk of developing diabetespredictive antibodies is unknown but the researchers speculated that it might contribute to reduced gut permeability or changes in gut microflora among other things. According to Knip the takehome message from the study is that it is possible to reduce considerably the initiation of the diabetes disease process in atrisk children in a simple and safe way weaning to an extensively hydrolyzed formula. He added that based on the current results we think that it is justified to recommend weaning to a highly hydrolyzed formula for babies in families with a member affected by type  diabetes.  Not everyone agreed with that notion however. The data in this study is not sufficiently strong to support recommending any changes for parents said the author of an accompanying editorial Dr. David Harlan codirector of the Diabetes Center of Excellence at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.  I think the authors designed this study to address their hypothesis that proteins present in nonhydrolyzed formula might incite an immune response and by breaking them down you might eliminate the immune response. But there are quite a few steps between that and how the immune system or diabetes are triggered added Harlans editorial coauthor Dr. Mary Lee a professor of pediatrics and cell biology and chief of the pediatric endocrine division at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center. I think this is an important study because we need to understand what causes type  diabetes said Harlan who added the caveat In this study while there is an apparent signal there are also some causes for withholding complete faith in the conclusion that the formula caused diabetes.  Both Lee and Harlan stressed that there is currently no definitive evidence to suggest that the use of standard cows milk formulas leads to an increased incidence of diabetes compared to breastfeeding. The hydrolyzed formula is also considerably more expensive than standard formula experts point out. More information Learn more about type  diabetes from the American Diabetes Association http SOURCES Michael Knip M.D. Ph.D. professor pediatrics the Hospital for Children and Adolescents Helsinki Finland David Harlan M.D. William and Doris Krupp Professor in Medicine and codirector Diabetes Center of Excellence University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center and professor of medicine and pediatrics and Chief Diabetes Division University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester Mass. Mary M. Lee M.D. professor of pediatrics and cell biology and chief pediatric endocrine division University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center Worcester Mass. Nov.   New England Journal of Medicine"