Abstract

Infant formulas have been designed to mimic human milk for infants who cannot be breastfed. The overall goal is to establish similar functional outcomes to assure optimal growth, de-velopment, maturation of the immune system, and programming of the metabolic system. However, after decades of improving infant formula, growth patterns and body composition development are still different in formula-fed infants compared to breastfed infants, which could contribute to an increased risk of obesity among formula-fed infants. It has been hypothesized that the lower protein concentration of breast milk compared to infant formula influences infants’ growth and body composition. Thus, several trials in formula-fed infants with different protein intake levels have been performed to test this hypothesis. In this review, we discuss the current evidence on low-protein infant formula and obesity risk, including future perspectives and implications.
Original languageEnglish
Article number2728
JournalNUTRIENTS
Volume14
Issue number13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2022

Keywords

  • amino acids
  • childhood obesity
  • early nutrition
  • infant nutrition
  • protein intake

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