Sir.—After reading the recent article by Martinez and co-workers,1I wonder whether it actually represents advertising for the formula industry. I am concerned about the "24-hour dietary recall interview" by a trained representative of the Custom Research Inc firm of Minneapolis. The evaluation should have been done by a dietitian or a nutritionist who is experienced in interviewing mothers about their children's food intake. These interviews are difficult and there was no verification of the methodology.
There was no statement as to what kind of cow's milk the infants consumed, whether it was skim, 1% low fat, 2% low fat, or whole milk. Deficient intake, eg, that of linoleic acid, could have been the result of inappropriate selection of milk, such as skim milk.
In the article,1 Table 4 is difficult to understand. The caloric intakes presented are for milk/formula plus solids, but this is not obvious