Formulation of Infant Formula Using Milk Fat as an Ingredient

Formulation of Infant Formula Using Milk Fat as an Ingredient 

Mineral absorption studies that compared the absorption of the micro-nutrients, Cu, Fe, and Zn, from human milk versus experimental infant formulae confirmed that mineral uptake is more closely linked to the chemical interactions between the components in milk and formulae, than to mineral solubility alone (Glahn et al., 1998 Hendricks et al., 2001). 

It is becoming more popular in the US for infant formula manufactures to add fish oils to fortify infant formulae with long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are critical in early child development because they are necessary for the formation of neural tissues and cells of vascular tissue, but are produced de novo at very low levels from the dietary essential fatty acids Ci8 2, m-3 and Cis 3, co-3. Typically, the long-chain fatty acids, doco-sahexaenoic acid (DHA C22 6) and arachidonic acid (AA C2o 4), were not added to infant formulae available in the US until recently. Many commercial infant formulae manufactures, including Wyeth, Ross and Mead Johnson, now produce infant formulae that are supplemented with DHA and AA. The level of DHA is approximately 0.32%, w/w of fat, and the level of AA is approximately 0.64% w/w of fat. Breast-milk naturally contains small amounts of these long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. 

In a long-term feeding trial started in 1992 (Mercola, 2003), 111 newborns were fed a formula supplemented with DHA and AA and 126 were given a similar formula without DHA and AA. Another group of children in the study were breast-fed. When the children reached 6 years of age, their blood pressure was measured. Children fed the fatty acid-supplemented formula as infants had an average diastolic blood pressure that was three points lower than the control formula-fed group. The children who were exclusively breast-fed had the lowest diastolic blood pressure, but 

A fish oil supplement for infant formula has been shown to be effective at maintaining concentrations of co-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in erythrocytes. Although human milk contains only small amounts of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, it contains all the w-6 and w-3 fatty acids found in erythrocyte membranes. Carlson et al. (1987) demonstrated that if infant formula is supplemented with fish oil rich in EPA (C20 5, o -3) and DHA (C22 6, w-3), levels of these polyunsaturated fatty acids can be maintained post-birth, in erythrocyte membranes. These results indicate the effectiveness of providing long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids directly in the diet rather than as precursors. 

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