Food & Nutrition

Arab Journal of Food & Nutrition
62. Comparison of Growth and Protein Quality of a Group of Infant-Feeding
Formulas in Rats (2003)
Mohannad Abdel-Qader Al-Sha’ar\ University of Jordan
Supervisor: Dr. Hamed R. Takruri
This study was conducted to investigate the nutritive value of different milkbased
infant formulas marketed in Jordan, it included those with added LCPUFAs and
nucleotides “A1”, nucleotides “A2”, LCPUFAs “B1”, two brands free of LCPUFAs
and nucleotides “B2” and “C1” and a brand containing nucleotides but with low
protein content “C2”). The nutritive value was evaluated through proximate analysis,
studying protein quality, growth and iron status of rats fed these formulas.
Forty-two weanling Sprague-Dawely rats were divided into 7 groups, each group
containing 6 animals. Food and water were introduced to animals ad libitum and the
experiment was conducted in duplicate. Food consumption, weight gain, liver weight,
food efficiency ratio (FER) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) values were the
biological indices used, whereas SFe, TIBC and Hb concentration values were used for
the evaluation of iron status.
The results showed that the infant formulas studied varied in their proximate
analysis, but they were still within the related Jordanian Specification. Weight gain
and liver weight values in rats fed infant formulas B1 or C1 were comparable to those
fed casein diet, but were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than those fed infant formulas
A1, A2 or C2. Protein efficiency ratio values for casein diet and for infant formulas
B1, B2 and C1 were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than those of infant formulas A1,
A2 and C2. Food efficiency ratio values for casein diet and for infant formulas B1, B2
and C1 were also significantly (P < 0.05) higher than those of infant formulas A2 and
C2. There were no large differences in SFe, TIBC and Hb concentration among rats
fed different infant formulas.
The addition of sources of sugar other than lactose to infant formulas had a
remarkable influence in improving food consumption, weight gain, liver weight, FER
and PER. The presence of taurine in infant formulas had a substantial influence in
improving protein quality (PER). The addition of nucleotides and / or LCPUFAs to
infant formulas had low effects on SFe, TIBC, and Hb concentration.
224
Volume 11, No. 25, 2011
225