Fatty acid composition of fecal lipid fractions in infants fed on a cow's milk or soybean milk preparation.

Abstract

The fecal lipid composition and the relative proportions of fecal fatty acids in infants receiving a soybean milk preparation were compared with those in infants receiving a cow's milk preparation. It was found that the fecal lipids had an entirely different composition from the ingested fats in either the soybean milk or cow's milk feeding, and that the ratio of the saturated to unsaturated fatty acids in the stool was equally 2 to 3, and the pattern of fecal fatty acids was entirely different from that of the milk fat in both groups of infants receiving soybean and cow's milks. The only significant difference in the fecal individual lipid fractions between the cow's milk fed infants and those fed on soybean milk was in the linoleic acid content, which was higher in both the phospholipid and triglyceride fractions of the soybean milk fed infants than in those of the infants fed on the cow's milk. It was also found that the fecal lipids from the infants receiving these milk preparations contained C15-fatty acid which is not present in the milk preparations.