Objectives/Goals
This project was done to determine the contents of
Sialic Acid present in human milk and infant milk formulas. Sialic Acid is an
important sugar for the development of a baby's brain, immunity against infections,
and development of their digestive system.
It is known that there is a high amount of Sialic Acid
in human milk, but many babies are fed infant milk formulas instead of their
mother's milk. This project is a comparison study of the total Sialic Acid
contents present in infant milk formulas vs. human milk at the various stages
of lactation.
Methods/Materials
For this project, six cow's milk based infant milk
formulas and five human milk samples were analyzed for their total sialic acid
contents. The experimental procedure consisted of the release of sialic acid
using a mild acid hydrolysis.
The released sialic acid was then derivatized using
DMB to obtain a fluorescent tag on the Sialic Acid. Then, the tagged Sialic
Acid was analyzed and quantified using the HPLC system with the fluorescence
detector.
Results
Results indicated that the total Sialic Acid
detected in human milk was at least 3 times higher than that in the infant milk
formulas. Out of the infant formulas, Nestle Good Start had the most Sialic
Acid, while Isomil, a soy-based formula had none.
Out of the human milk samples, Colostrum (milk at
day 4) had the highest amount of Sialic Acid and the amount decreased with the
stages of lactation over a 12-week period.
Conclusions/Discussion
My results show that human milk is the best source
of nutrition for an infant especially in the early days of infancy and also for
pre-term babies since it has a significantly higher amount of Sialic Acid.
This study is important because it helps people
undertstand the importance of sialic acid and helps them make a right choice in
selecting the most nutritious milk for an infant, especially because this
information is relatively new and is not on the milk cans of the infant
formulas that are avaliable in the supermarket.
Project
Summary
This project is a comparitive study of the total
Sialic Acid contents in infant milk formulas vs. human milk at the various
stages of lactation.
Project by Shilpa P. Argade
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