title: Forms and Amounts of Vitamin B12 in Infant Formula: A Pilot Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Infant formula is based on cow's milk and designed to mimic breast milk for substitution. Vitamin B12 (B12) is bound to proteins in both breast milk and cow's milk, and in milk from both species the vitamin occurs mainly in its natural form such as hydroxo-B12 with little or no synthetic B12 (cyano-B12). Here we test commercially available infant formulas.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eleven commercially available infant formulas were measured for content of B12 and analyzed for the presence of B12-binding proteins and forms of B12 using size exclusion chromatography and HPLC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All infant formulas contained B12 by and large in accord with the informations given on the package inserts. None of the formulas contained protein-bound B12, and cyano-B12 accounted for 19-78% of the total amount of B12 present, while hydroxo-B12 constituted more or less the rest.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This pilot study shows that infant formula differs from breast milk in providing the infant with free B12, rather than protein-bound B12, and by a relative high content of cyano-B12. The consequence of supplying the infant with synthetic cyano-B12 remains to be elucidated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Greibe
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ebba
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nexo
mesh_terms: D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D041943:Infant Formula / Q000032:analysis*; D014805:Vitamin B 12 / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014805:Vitamin B 12