Work

Composition and distribution of fatty acids in triglycerides from goat infant formulas with milk fat

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: Most infant formulas use vegetable oils in place of milk fat to provide an overall fatty acid profile similar to that of breast milk. Vegetable oils have 5 to 20% saturated fatty acids in the sn-2 position of triglycerides unless they are modified by interesterification. Interesterification is increasingly used for the fat for infant formulas to raise the level of saturated fatty acids in the sn-2 position to 40 to 60%. The objective of this study was to verify an alternative approach to providing the appropriate fatty acid profile, including in the sn-2 position, for a goat infant formula. In this method, 55% of total fat was made from goat milk fat and 45% from a mixture of unmodified high oleic sunflower, canola, and sunflower oils in a ratio of 44:30:26. The fatty acid profile was measured by gas-liquid chromatography and the relative percentage of fatty acids in the sn-2 position of triglycerides was measured via partial deacylation with Grignard reagent using trimethylsilyl derivatives of monoacylglycerols. Mixing goat milk fat with vegetable oils produced a formula with a profile of essential fatty acids and a ratio of linoleic:alpha-linolenic fatty acids within the required interval of 5 to 15:1 recommended for infant formula. The proportion of palmitic acid in the sn-2 position was 31%.

Source: Journal of Dairy Science

DOI: 10.3168/jds.2009-2946

Authors: C.G. Prosser, V.I. Svetashev, M.V. Vyssotski, D.J. Lowry

Institution: Industrial Research Limited

Language: English

Topic: Infant Nutrition and Health

Subfield: Nutrition and Dietetics

Field: Nursing

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Zero hunger

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: Foundation for Research, Science and Technology