Résumé

Breast milk provides optimal species-specific nutrition for the growing animal. Consequently, bovine milk–based nutrition for infants is incapable of providing a balanced nutritional profile without considerable adaptation. Human milk, e.g., has a larger proportion of alpha-lactalbumin (28%) than bovine milk (3%) or whey-dominant formula where β-lactoglobin is predominant. Enriching cow’s milk–based infant formula with bovine alpha-lactalbumin has considerable benefits for child development. Due to high concentrations for essential amino acids, supplementation enables a lowering of the total protein content of formula to resemble the protein profile of human milk (12.8 g/L). This, in turn, normalizes blood urea nitrogen concentration and greater weight-for-length ratios profiles, lowering the risk of obesity in later life. Beyond its nutritional aspects, alpha-lactalbumin has also been shown to have several other beneficial effects on child development: Clinical trials and in vitro studies have shown that alpha-lactalbumin may aid mineral binding, induce apoptosis and tumor suppression, modulate the immune system, and effect the microbiology of the infant human gut by promoting bifidobacteria and inhibiting the growth of potential pathogens.

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