Infant Milk Food and Infant Formula

Breast milk is the best milk for infant feeding. There is no true substitute to the human milk for the feeding of infants. Apart from providing right proportion and quality of nutrients required for the growth, it also helps in protecting the newborn against infective agents in its new environment. But, there are mothers, who either can’t or prefer not to feed breast milk to their babies. This led to the development of infant milk food and infant formula with the modification of cow/buffalo milk as an alternative to human milk. The pattern of bottle-feeding in the modern world is a sequel to industrial growth and urbanisation. The substitute of breast milk serves as a saver of precious life during vulnerable stages of infancy in the event of lactation failure, insufficient milk secretion and in case of mothers inflicted with transmittable diseases, like tuberculosis, breast cancer etc. Today nearly 1,85,000 tonnes of infant food and infant formula are manufactured in India. There are at least 14 different brands of infant food and infant formulas presently available in the country made from bovine milk.

i. Virtues of Human Milk

Followings are the virtues of human milk unlike in bovine milk (Table )

•  Protein content is much lower (1.0 %) in human compared to 3.5 % in cow milk and 4.0% in buffalo milk.
•  Ratio of casein to whey proteins is much lower (4:6) in human milk compared to (4:1) in cow milk.
•  Due to higher proportion of whey proteins (which are richer in essential amino acids) the nutritive value of human milk protein is much higher.
•  Concentration of vitamin E, D and K is much higher in human milk and it also contain taurine (a special protein present only in human milk) which help in the absorption of calcium.
•  Phosphorous to calcium ratio (Ca:P) is much higher (2:1) in human milk compared to 1:2 in cow milk
•  Size of the fat globules is smaller compared to cow or buffalo milk which help in the formation of softer curd leading to better digestibility in the infant.
•  Caseins micelle size is smaller and calcium content is much lower in human milk. This helps in easier digestion and faster absorption due to the soft curd formation compared to cow or buffalo milk.
•  Polyunsaturated fatty acids are present relatively in larger quantity in human milk fat.
• The larger proportion of lactose helps in the proper development of brain constituents and greater energy (40%) of the total energy is supplied by lactose which is the easiest form of energy.
• It puts much less load on kidneys to discharge their functions due to lower calcium, sodium, potassium and chloride; it has built-in immune bodies.
• The other most valuable component present in human milk in much larger quantity is the lysozyme, an anti-microbial component, which is present at a concentration 300 times higher than cow milk.
•  Other anti-infective properties of human milk are due to secretory immunoglobulin A, the bifidus factor and lactoferrin. These protect the child further from undesirable infection.
•  Due to higher concentration of lactose in human milk the pH in the intestine is much lower reading to prevention of growth of pathogenes.
•  It allows selective types of microflora to grow in the intestine, which do not permit the infectious bacteria associated with diarrhea to grow.

Composition of human and cow milk

The technological advancement for the production of infant formula has gone a long way in manufacture of variety of infant formulas for dietary management of normal,pre-mature infants, and infants born with variety of nutritional as well as physiological disorders. Both nutritionists and biochemists have provided ample knowledge for the technocrats to manufacture infant formula having similarities in general characteristics to that of human milk. Considerable scope, however, exists for enhancing the bio-protective attributes of infant formula. These attributes are vital for establishing a healthy microflora in the intestinal tract and potentially play an important role of protecting the infant against enteric infections.

ii. Production of Infant Milk Food and Infant Formulas

Food manufacturers, world over, have developed wide range of infant formulations to meet the nutritional requirements of different category of infants.

i) Standard Formulation: This formulation is based on bovine milk and work as supplement or replacement of human milk for feeding of normal healthy infants.The nutritional requirements of infants through such formulations are met mainly by coarse adjustments of Protein: Fat: Carbohydrate ratios as a broad compositional simulation to human milk. These formulations are also fortified with general minerals and vitamins. They are generally referred to as first generation formulas developed to meet the general energy and nutritional requirements of infants born normally with out any physiological disorders.

ii) Nutritionally improved formulations: Nutritionally superior formulations have been developed for easy adaptability. These formulations bear varying degree of chemical and biochemical similarity with human milk and are referred to as humanised or maternalised formulas. Apart from similar gross compositional profile these formulations also incorporate comparable ratios of whey protein:Casein; saturated: polyunsaturated fatty acids; calcium: phosphorus and sodium: potassium. Such formulations closely approach the nutritional qualities of human milk and, therefore, are easily adaptable by the infantile system without causing great physiological stress on the under-developed organs.

iii) Specialised formulations: This group of formulas are specific products for the dietary management of infants with variety of nutritional and physiological disorders that are associated with the early stages of life. Certain infants for example, are born with disorders of enzyme insufficiency to digest milk proteins or carbohydrates present in standard formulations. Such infants require proteins to be present on the formulation in pre-digested form that is easy to digest or a low lactose diet or lactose free diet. Specialised formulations consisting of predigested or hydrolysed proteins, hydrolysed lactose, low fat formula etc. fall into this category. These formulations are designed to have minimum load on the under-developed digestive system. Such formulations are sold under specific brand names depending upon their applications.