α-Lactalbumin-rich infant formula fed to healthy term infants in a multicenter study: plasma essential amino acids and gastrointestinal tolerance

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of an a-lactalbumin-enriched formula with a protein profile and total protein concentration closer to human milk (HM) and lower than conventional formulas. Subjects/methods: Two hundred and sixteen healthy, term infants, p14 days post-natal age were enrolled and 166 (76.9%) completed the study. Timed post-prandial plasma essential amino-acid levels were determined after 8 weeks of ad libitum study feeding. Study events were assessed every 2 weeks. Results: At 8 weeks, all mean plasma essential amino-acid levels in the experimental formula (EF) group were as high as the standard formula (SF) and HM groups. The incidence of feeding-related gastrointestinal (GI) events varied significantly (P ¼ 0.025) across groups: SF (31.3%), EF (17.2%) and HM (13.6%), with SF being significantly higher than HM (P ¼ 0.015). Study withdrawals due to feeding-related GI events were significantly different (P ¼ 0.001) across groups: SF (12.5%), EF (4.7%), and HM (0%). The timing of GI events was also significantly different across groups (P ¼ 0.010). Conclusion: The study demonstrated that feeding a higher quality, lower protein concentration formula (a-lactalbuminenriched) met all essential amino acid and protein requirements of infants. The GI tolerance profile of infants receiving the EF was similar to HM-fed infants.

α-Lactalbumin-enriched and probiotic-supplemented infant formula in infants with colic: growth and gastrointestinal tolerance

“…The effect of a-lactalbumin on GI side effects first came up in the trial by Lien et al (2004) and was confirmed by Davis et al (2008). This study confirms the beneficial effect in a population of children with colic.…”

“…This EF, slightly reduced in protein content and enriched in a-lactalbumin, guaranteed appropriate weight and height gains in this population of infants with colic, confirming the nutritional adequacy of the protein profile (Lien et al, 2004;Davis et al, 2008). The study failed to show any reduction in colic.…”

“…Studies conducted with a-lactalbumin-enriched formulae (Lien et al, 2004;Davis et al, 2008) never addressed infants with colic, a disease partially related to IF nutritional composition, due to the potential role, among others, of food allergy and immaturity of gut function (Savino, 2007;Cohen-Silver and Ratnapalan, 2009). This study evaluated the nutritional adequacy, the gastrointestinal (GI) tolerance and the effect on colic of an a-lactalbumin-enriched and probiotic-supplemented IF, in infants with colic.…”

Energetic Efficiency of Infant Formulae: A Review

“…All but 2 studies included infants of both sexes, while Fomon et al [10] and Carnielli et al [11] enrolled male infants only. Ten of 14 studies aimed to investigate the suitability and safety of the formulae with a focus on protein and carbohydrate contents [2,10,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19], while studies focused on fat composition aimed to investigate fat or mineral balances [11,20,21]. Schmelzle et al [17] and Lasekan et al [19] studied modified carbohydrate components in formulae.…”

“…The studies of Koo et al [20], Kennedy et al [21], and Carnielli et al [11] investigated formulae with modified fat contents. Most of the included studies focused on the protein component [2,10,12,13,14,15,16,17]. …”