Structured lipids for infant formula

Lipids in breast milk represent an important source of energy and essential fatty acids required by infants. Palmitic acid accounts for the majority of the saturated fat portion in breast milk. Breast milk may also naturally contain docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) but the variations in content depend on the mother's diet and metabolism. Indeed, the level of DHA in mother's breast milk is so low that supplementation is encouraged. Infant formulas have been developed to complement and/or substitute optimum nutrition from breast milk. Infant formulas intended for healthy term infants should mimic the composition of breast milk from healthy mothers. The fat portion in commercial infant formulas is usually achieved with vegetable oils such as coconut, soybean, sunflower and corn oils. The purpose of a study by UGA food scientists is to use enzymatic interesterification techniques to modify underutilized amaranth oil into a structured lipid (SL), by increasing its palmitic acid content at sn-2 position and incorporating DHA, so it can be partially or complementarily used in milk-based infant formulas to deliver a lipid component more similar to breast milk. The physical and chemical characteristics determined in this study support the potential application of DHA-containing customized amaranth oil as a partial fat substitute or complement for milk-based infant formula.