Appetite Suppressants for Babies????

News this week that British scientists are experimenting with adding the hormone ‘leptin’ to baby formula in the hope that it will stop children from over-eating in later life. (Scarey stuff huh?) Tests performed on rats have produced the desired hunger-suppressing effect, (note the words, hunger-suppressing) but so far their research on humans has been disappointing. Head of research Dr. Mike Cawthorne truly believes that if the new wonder milk formula is consumed for a short period early on in life, it will hard wire the body’s energy balance. Now I recently did a show taking a look at whether babies can be TOO fat. It turns out that some experts say YES, those adorable double chins can be too much. But appetite suppressants for babies? I love having an appetite! Of course I’ve had to learn to control it along the way (and boy has THAT been a long hard road) but I can’t imagine life without one. Critics of the new research say the notion of a wonder formula to prevent human obesity is currently in the realms of wildly optimistic science fiction, so I guess it will be some time before we see this product on our supermarket shelves. My little boy is definitely not obese and just about to turn 9, and YES I admit I look forward to that look of anticipation when he spots his birthday cake. How sad to go thru life ‘appetiteless’ (is there even such a word?) never really experiencing the joy and the journey that food can inspire. Are we humans becoming so stupid that our only option is to have no choice?