Quantitative determination of linoleic acid in infant formulas

The aim of this paper is to develop a gas chromatographic method for the quantitative determination of linoleic acid in adapted, preterm, follow-up and special infant formulas. For sample preparation, lipids were extracted with a Soxhlet extractor after acid hydrolysis, and methyl esters of fatty acids were prepared in a sealed vial with hydrochloric acid in methyl alcohol and analysed using a packed polar column (SP 2330). Triheptadecanoin was chosen as internal standard. The method yielded reliable and repeatable results for all the examined formulas.