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Effects of α‐lactalbumin (α‐lac) enriched formula with different levels of glycomacropeptide (GMP) on infant nutrition
Author(s) -
Sandström Olof,
Graverholt Gitte,
Lönnerdal Bo,
Hernell Olle
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.4.a618
Subject(s) - infant formula , zoology , body weight , medicine , anthropometry , chemistry , pediatrics , biology
α–lac is the dominant whey protein in human but not in bovine milk. Increasing bovine α –lac in infant formulas has been suggested to bring the plasma amino acid (aa) pattern closer to that of breastfed infants. We studied healthy, term infants fed either standard formula (SF, n=21), formula enriched in α –lac (α –LAC, n=20), or formula enriched in α –lac but with reduced GMP (RGMP, n=21) from 6±2 wks to 6 mo of age. Protein conc. was 13.1 g/L (1.96 g/100 kcal) in all formulas. Breastfed infants (BF, n=34) served as reference. Anthropometric measurements and interviews were performed monthly. Blood was taken at 4 and 6 mo. All formulas were well tolerated. There were no differences in infections between groups. Formula intake did not differ between groups, but the SF group gained more weight than BF infants (24.3 g and 19.8 g /d, respectively, p<0.05). There were no significant differences in gain of height. All formula groups deviated from BF with regard to plasma aa. Formula‐fed infants had higher plasma concentrations of the essential aa thr, ile, val, met, lys and phe at 6 mo (p<0.05). Formula‐fed infants showed higher concentrations of the non‐essential aa tyr and α‐LAC and RGMP infants had higher conc. of gly as compared to BF infants and asp as compared to both BF and SF infants (p<0.05). Plasma conc. of BUN was higher in the formula‐fed groups as compared to the BF group (p<0.05). This together with higher plasma concentrations of most aa suggest a possibility to reduce the protein content in formulas enriched with α –lac, bringing the formula‐fed infants even closer to BF.