A local campaign promoting the practice of breastfeeding newborns and infants has been very active in the territory over the past few years, through outreach and educational programs being carried out by the Women, Infants, and Children’s (WIC) Program of the Department of Human and Social Services, the Department of Health, and the LBJ Tropical Medical Center.

The result of recent studies linking obesity in Samoan babies to formula milk should be more than enough reason to continue the crusade of promoting breastfeeding locally, even worldwide.

Samoa has one of the highest rates of obesity in the world.

What’s disturbing and somewhat scary, is that a recent study conducted by Brown University found that 800 babies born in American Samoa (not including the independent state of Samoa) between 2001and 2008 were obese by the time they were 15 months of age. Of that number, 23.3% were boys and 16.7% were girls. The study of the babies carried in the womb to around 37-42 weeks also found a further 16.1% of boys and 14% of girls were overweight.

The study has sparked concerns about a link between formula milk and overweight and obese infants.

Dr. Stephen McGarvey of Brown University is studying the feeding patterns of Samoan babies and the effect it has as the child grows. Radio New Zealand International reported on May 19 that according to Dr. McGarvey, a previous study showed children who put on the most weight for their body length, had been fed with formula milk as infants.

No specific brand of formula milk was named, although the two most widely sold baby infant formulas in the territory are Similac (which is the current formula of choice for the WIC program), and Enfamil, (the former choice for the WIC program)

Dr. McGarvey says if this pattern continues, the children will become overweight as they enter kindergarten age. He added that early intervention is needed so infants do not grow up facing health problems linked to overweight or obesity.

Dr. Nicola Hawley, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Alpert Medical School at Brown University, has told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat that an important factor in preventing obesity in infants is ensuring a healthy diet for both the mother and baby.

“A high priority for us... is to really start educating women about what their pregnancy diet should look like, and about being a healthy weight pre-pregnancy, if possible, because that gives the baby the best chance of a good outcome,” she said.

“Most of the growth that a baby experiences in life is really related to the energy that they are consuming rather than the calories that they're burning because babies don't exercise particularly.”

The study sees a link between formula milk and obesity in boys, with 38.6 percent of formula-fed boys found to be obese at 15 months, compared to 23.4 percent of breast-fed boys being obese.

"Breastfeeding is protective against obesity developing very early on in life," Dr. Hawley is quoted as saying.

However, the link is not substantiated among girls.

“For some reason, we don't see [the link] in girls and so the research that we're currently doing in American Samoa is trying to unpick that relationship a little bit and understand why we don't see it in girls as [much] as boys,” Dr. Hawley said.

According to Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat, “The study says the westernization of Pacific island cultures has contributed to a sharp increase in obesity in American Samoa, as communities are leading a more sedentary, calorie-rich lifestyle rather than relying on fishing and agriculture for subsistence. There is currently no evidence that suggests genetics are playing a significant role in the obesity issue.”

"Right now, we are not able to say that there is anything genetically specific to Polynesian individuals that make them more susceptible to obesity than any other population," Dr. Hawley said. She added that even  babies who were undernourished at birth experienced rapid weight gain as infants, and action is needed to help curb American Samoa's obesity epidemic.

"Research really tells us that those babies who are overweight as infants are more likely to be overweight as children, and then as adults so...nipping this in the bud as early as possible in life should be a key aim for anybody's who's working in public health around obesity," Dr. Hawley concluded.

Samoa News contacted the local WIC Office and DHSS Assistant Director Tanya White-Atofau, who oversees the WIC Division. She responded via email that as of May 2013, there were a total of 1,138 local infants enrolled in the WIC Program. Of that number, 97 infants are fully breastfed, 613 are partially breastfed, and 428 infants are strictly on formula milk.

The WIC Program provides monthly checks to its participants to purchase items like formula, eggs, cheese, milk, peanut butter, juice, cereal, brown rice, brown bread, and other nutritious items for infants, children up to five years old, and mothers who are expecting and/or breastfeeding.

Samoa News will publish more on the obesity issue and Polynesians in upcoming edition.