A Comparative Analysis of Lipid Digestion in Human Milk and Infant Formulas Based on Simulated In Vitro Infant Gastrointestinal Digestion.

Lu Liu,Yue Sun,Xiaodong Li,Shuyan Liang,Shuaiyi Ma,Shuang Lin

doi:10.3390/foods11020200

Abstract

To investigate the lipid digestive behaviors of human and infant formulas and analyze the differences between them, we investigated the fat globule particle size distribution, lipolysis rate, and fatty acid release of infant formulas with different fat sources and human milk using an in vitro infant digestion model. The results suggested that the particle size in infant formula increased rapidly during gastric digestion and decreased significantly after intestinal digestion, whereas the particle size in human milk increased slowly during gastric digestion but increased rapidly during intestinal digestion (p < 0.05). Despite having a larger droplet size, human milk demonstrated a very high lipolysis rate due to the presence of MFGM. In terms of the distribution of fatty acids in digestion products, the proportion of saturated fatty acids (SFAs), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in vegetable oil-based infant formulas was close to that of human milk. The amount of SFAs in milk fat-based infant formulas was significantly higher than that in human milk, and the content of MUFAs in all infant formulas was significantly lower than that in human milk (p < 0.05). After digestion, the most abundant fatty acid released by human milk was C18:2n6c, while the fatty acids released by infant formulas were SFAs, such as C14:0, C16:0, and C18:0.

Highlights

Published: 12 January 2022Human milk, as the source of all nutrients for infants in the first 6 months, meets all the energy requirements for their growth and development, and lipids are an important component
The particle size of the human milk fat globules was significantly larger than of the infant formulas, and the particle size distributions were between 2.31 μm and
Many fats containing C18:1 have been added to infant formulas, the results of this study show that a large proportion of C18:1 in infant formulas was not released during gastrointestinal digestion

Summary

Introduction

As the source of all nutrients for infants in the first 6 months, meets all the energy requirements for their growth and development, and lipids are an important component. The fat content in human milk is about 3–5%, and it provides 45–55% of the energy requirements of an infant in the first 6 months [1]. Human milk fat contains a variety of PUFAs, phospholipids, fat-soluble vitamins, and other essential nutrients, which are beneficial to the growth and development of infants. These components promote the development of the nervous system and organs [3] and accelerate the synthesis of biofilms [4]. If breast-feeding is not possible or sufficient, it is necessary to substitute human milk with infant formula to provide the necessary nutrients

Methods

Results

Conclusion