Determination of the phospholipid content of human milk, cow's milk and various infant formulas

The phospholipid (PL) content of human milk, cow's milk, and various infant formulas was determined by recently developed high performance liquid chromatography (6). As the examinations promised, the content of phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylcholine (PC), and sphingomyelin (SP) was not changed by homogenization and pasteurization of cow's milk. Levels of phosphatidylglycerol (PG) were below the detection limit. Furthermore it has been proved that human milk and cow's milk are more or less identical in PL content. Some of the PL in human milk varies during the course of pregnancy and postpartum. PI, PC, and SP content in the prepartum mammarial secretion lies above the average content of mature human milk after delivery. Before the contractions start, all the PL examined show a more or less considerable decrease. PC drops to 30% of the value at the beginning of the examination six weeks before delivery. PG contents are very low throughout the whole period. Contrary to the others, PC content recovers three weeks after delivery, which may be the result of the endogenous surfactant replacement system. To compare PL content with human milk and cow's milk, 13 different infant formulas have been examined. There are considerable differences to be found in and among adapted milk, partially adapted milk, and special formulas. None of the PL examined could be found in all the infant formulas, where PG content was usually low, except in some Milupa formulas. PE and PI were not to be found in some special formulas. Most of the formulas contain high amounts of SP, in some cases higher than the amount of PC. To a certain extent infant formulas contain a considerably greater amount of other PL concentrations than human milk and cow's milk. In most of the formulas examined the PL content is generally so high, that it can be used as a source of PL for the newborn.