According to a Norwegian professor the age-old belief that breast milk is better than formula milk is not true.

He added that children who were breastfed were healthy not because of mother’s milk but because of the hormone balance in mother's womb.

Flow of nutrients to a baby is affected due to levels of male hormones in the womb. This affects the ability of a mother to breastfeed making the baby get fed by a bottle.

British experts however dismissed the theory with immediate effect. They said that claims by the professor were overblown and irresponsible.

Prof Sven Carlsen, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, said, “I reviewed data from more than 50 international studies looking at the relationship between breastfeeding and health and found no evidence that breastfeeding reduced the risk of asthma and allergies in children, which has been attributed to breastfeeding.”

The research is published in the January edition of the Norwegian journal Acta Obstestricia and Gynecologia Scandinavica.

Breastfeeding has been attributed to providing protection against stomach bugs, fighting infections in the chest, provides complete nutrition to a baby for the first six months and reduces the chances of obesity at later stages.