title: Infant Formula Fat Analogs and Human Milk Fat: New Focus on Infant Developmental Needs.
abstract: Human breast milk is generally and universally recognized as the optimal choice for nutrition during the first year of life. In certain cases in which it is not feasible to breast-feed the infant or the breast milk is not sufficient, especially in the case of preterm infants, infant formula is the next best alternative to provide nutrition to nurture the infant. Therefore, it is highly important that the nutrient composition of the infant formula is as close to breast milk as possible for proper growth and development of the infant. However, human milk is a complex dynamic matrix, and therefore significant research has been done and is still ongoing to fully understand and mimic human breast milk, particularly its fat composition. Lipids play a critical role in infant nutrition. A number of advances have been made in infant formula lipid content and composition so that formula can better simulate or mimic the nutritional functions of human maternal milk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Technology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602; email: lzou@uga.edu , gpande@uga.edu , cakoh@uga.edu.|Bunge Ingredient Innovation Center, Bradley, Illinois 60915.
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Technology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602; email: lzou@uga.edu , gpande@uga.edu , cakoh@uga.edu.
authors.forename: Garima
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pande
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Technology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602; email: lzou@uga.edu , gpande@uga.edu , cakoh@uga.edu.
authors.forename: Casimir C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Akoh
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005223:Fats / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D041943:Infant Formula / Q000737:chemistry*; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry*; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009751:Nutritional Requirements / Q000502:physiology*; D019308:Palmitic Acid
chemical_list: D005223:Fats; D019308:Palmitic Acid
keywords: human milk fat; infant formula; nutrition; structured lipid; β-palmitate