Impact of Extensively Hydrolyzed Infant Formula on Circulating Lipids During Early Life

Abstract

BackgroundCurrent evidence suggests that the composition of infant formula (IF) affects the gut microbiome, intestinal function, and immune responses during infancy. However, the impact of IF on circulating lipid profiles in infants is still poorly understood. The objectives of this study were to (1) investigate how extensively hydrolyzed IF impacts serum lipidome compared to conventional formula and (2) to associate changes in circulatory lipids with gastrointestinal biomarkers including intestinal permeability.MethodsIn a randomized, double-blind controlled nutritional intervention study (n = 73), we applied mass spectrometry-based lipidomics to analyze serum lipids in infants who were fed extensively hydrolyzed formula (HF) or conventional, regular formula (RF). Serum samples were collected at 3, 9, and 12 months of age. Child’s growth (weight and length) and intestinal functional markers, including lactulose mannitol (LM) ratio, fecal calprotectin, and fecal beta-defensin, were also measured at given time points. At 3 months of age, stool samples were analyzed by shotgun metagenomics.ResultsConcentrations of sphingomyelins were higher in the HF group as compared to the RF group. Triacylglycerols (TGs) containing saturated and monounsaturated fatty acyl chains were found in higher levels in the HF group at 3 months, but downregulated at 9 and 12 months of age. LM ratio was lower in the HF group at 9 months of age. In the RF group, the LM ratio was positively associated with ether-linked lipids. Such an association was, however, not observed in the HF group.ConclusionOur study suggests that HF intervention changes the circulating lipidome, including those lipids previously found to be associated with progression to islet autoimmunity or overt T1D.Clinical Trial Registration[Clinicaltrials.gov], identifier [NCT01735123].

Chewing the fat: How lipidomics is changing our understanding of human health and disease in 2022

“…Bibliometric analyses of clinical lipidomics publications in 2022 according to separation techniques, detectors, and RPLC columns used …”

“…Bibliometric analyses of clinical lipidomics publications in 2022 using Scopus search terms “lipidomics” AND “clinic*” on 15 th December 2022 …”

Lipidomics in nutrition research

“…The type of infant feeding, i.e., breastfeeding vs. formula feeding, has also a profound impact on infant lipidome as well as on the gut microbiome, intestinal function, and immune function [16]. Recent study investigated whether infant formula in which the protein content was modified by hydrolyzation of the proteins to smaller peptides is beneficial to the standard cow's milk formula extensively hydrolyzed milk formula [17]. This study revealed that the type of formula had a major impact on the infants' longitudinal lipidomic profiles, with higher level of sphingomyelins in the hydrolyzed formula-fed group.…”