Metabolic impact of infant formulas in young infants. An outlook from the urine metabolome.

INTRODUCTION

Although breast milk is the ideal food source for newborns during the first six months of life, a high percentage of children receive infant formulas. There is evidence that specific diet habits may influence individual metabolic profile. Therefore, in newborns, such profile can be influenced by the use of infantile formulas given the composition differences that display compared to human milk. Up to now, there are no reports in the literature that address this issue.

OBJECTIVES

this work aims to compare the metabolic profile of full-term newborns that were feed with either breast milk (n = 32) or infantile formulas (n = 21).

Methods

Metabolic profile was established based on urine analysis through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (H-NMR).

RESULTS

our results evidenced a more gluconeogenic profile in breast-fed infants characterized by elevation of Kreb's cycle intermediaries like fumaric, succinic and ketoglutaric acids compared to infants receiving infant formula. In addition, infant formula fed infants presented urinary excretion of metabolites derived from specific compounds present in this type of diet that were not observed in breast-fed infants, for instance D-glucitol, and 4-deoxytetronic. Moreover, in infant formula fed infants there was excretion of basal levels of metabolites of clinical relevance like 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaric, 2-methyl-3-keto-valeric and 3,4-dihydroxybutyric.

CONCLUSION

These results show the importance of understanding the metabolic impact of diet in newborn population in normal and pathological contexts.