Effects of lipids from multiple sources on glyceride composition, concentration, and structure of infant formulas benchmarked to human milk

• Published in: Heliyon 2023-11, Vol.9 (11), p.e21611-e21611, Article e21611
• Main Authors: Liu, Qian, Qiao, Weicang, Liu, Yan, Zhao, Junying, Fan, Xiaofei, Li, Ziqi, Hou, Juncai, Liu, Yanpin, Chen, Jingyao, Yang, Kai, Yu, Xiaowen, Lin, Li, Jin, Yue, Chen, Lijun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Composition analysis; Glycerides; Human milk; Infant formulas; Structural analysis
• ISSN: 2405-8440; 2405-8440
• DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21611

The important parameters affecting the nutritional properties of lipids were analyzed and compared between human milk (HM), infant formulas (IFs), mammalian milk, and substitute fat, including molecular species, fatty acid composition, glyceride content, and important structural triacylglycerols (TAGs). The molecular species of triacylglycerols with functional fatty acids were significantly different between HM and IFs, and their contents in HM were significantly higher than those in IFs. Accordingly, the evaluation scores of fatty acid composition and glyceride content in IFs were less than 50 compared to HM. Although the introduction of vegetable oils effectively improved the unsaturation of IF lipid, the excessive addition of TAGs rich in oleic and linoleic acid resulted in an imbalance of TAG composition and structure. Only 36.84 % of IFs were supplemented with structured lipids, but those still lacked sn-2 palmitate TAGs. The adoption of multiple lipids and novel processing technologies is required for novel IFs to match the composition, content, positional structure and spherical membrane structure of HM as closely as possible. [Display omitted] •Fatty acid compositions of DHA-containing TAGs differs between infant formulas and human milk.•The similarity evaluation scores of infant formulas benchmarked to human milk were less than 50.•Vegetable oils improved TAG unsaturation but compromised the TAG composition and structure.•Infant formulas supplemented with structured lipids still lacked sn-2 palmitate TAGs.•Mimicking lipid composition, content and structure requires compounding multiple lipid sources.