Experimental milk formulae with reduced protein content and desialylated milk proteins: influence on the faecal flora and the growth of term newborn infants

We have assessed the growth, tolerance and the faecal flora composition in healthy infants on different feeding regimens. Four groups of infants were fed exclusively on mother's milk, a standard formula and two experimental formulae. The first experimental formula consisted of a milk with a reduced protein content (1.2 g/100 ml), the second in a formula with the same protein content and with milk proteins desialylated by mild acid hydrolysis. The aim of the study was to test whether lowering the protein content and/or modifying the proteins by desialylation would favour the development of a bifidus flora. A bifidus flora was detected in 60% of breastfed infants at 1 month of life. All formulae employed during the study failed to induce a prevalence of colonization with bifidobacteria at 1 month of age. The two experimental milk formulae were well tolerated, but the infant growth rate was slightly lower as compared to the breastfed infants and the infants fed the standard formula. The presence in milk formulae of pre‐digested and desialylated proteins can offer some advantages in term of digestibility and mimic a physiological intestinal mechanism of the infant.