Evaluation of infant formula protein quality

Colić Barić, I.; Panjkota Krbavčić, I.; Pedisić, S.

Evaluation of infant formula protein quality

2002

Colić Barić, I. | Panjkota Krbavčić, I. | Pedisić, S.

Infant formulas are designed to simulate not only the content but also the performance of human milk as much as possible in order to be an adequate replacement of human milk. The most common sources of protein in infant's formula are either cow's milk or soy protein (isolate). From this point of view the aim of this study was to determine the nutritive value of these proteins sources in powdered infant formulas present in the Croatian market. Protein quality has been evaluated in vivo - feeding young growing rats, and in vitro by multienzyme systems. The results showed that protein digestibility (D) of both formulas are high and not significantly different according to methodology (in vivo and in vitro). Biological value (BV) and net protein utilisation (NPU) of milk protein based formula are lower than that found in the literature. The same bioassays for soy protein isolates based formula are extremely low, while PER and NPR values are higher than that of proteins in milk based formula. The data indicate that protein qualities of both powdered infant formulas evaluated in vivo are not satisfying and can not provide nutritional support to healthy infants. At this point further investigations should be done in order to identify the factors affecting protein quality.

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