Fatty acid composition of infant formulae1

ABSTRACT. The fatty acid composition of the fats extracted from 27 infant formulae were examined in detail using gas chromatography. The results obtained enabled certain conclusions to be made. These include (1) confirmation that raw cow's milk and unmodified cow's milk preparations are low in essential fatty acids, (2) several of the formulae designed for normal infants contained fatty acids in different proportions to that found in breast milk, and (3) many of the 'special' formulae designed for use when certain specific metabolic or dietary intolerances exist were found to contain either an excess of certain fatty acids considered not beneficial to man such as lauric acid or insufficient essential fatty acid. It is concluded that there is a need for closer scrutiny of the composition of infant formulae.