Frequently asked questions

Breast milk is made up mainly of water, carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, minerals and fat. It contains exactly the nutritional and protective components needed most by each baby at every age, and it can protect against infections and reduce later health problems.

Fat serves as an important source of calories for the baby — actually 50% of a baby’s caloric intake comes from breast milk fat. But, the nutritional importance of human milk fat goes way beyond the calories supplied; it is essential for baby’s proper development and that is why the fat structure is very important. Worldwide, the unique structure of mother’s milk fat is conserved in all women across populations, regardless of their diet.

Most infant formulas today aim to achieve the typical composition of mother’s milk fat by using blends of different vegetable oils. Other fat sources can be bovine or synthetic. These common sources supply fatty acids in similar levels to mother’s milk. But, they differ in the structure of the fatty acids, and this makes a critical difference. In the unique fat structure of mother’s milk, 70% of the palmitic fatty acids are attached to the sn-2 position of the triglyceride, in a special structure called OPO. This is not the case with the oils and fat sources commonly used in infant formulas. Only a few manufacturers have succeeded in mimicking the special OPO structure. With INFAT^®, Advanced Lipids uses an innovative enzymatic technology to mimic the OPO structure in human breast milk, resulting in a closer match than is possible with the oils used in other infant formulas.

Advanced Lipids’ approach to food safety is proactive and preventive and covers the whole supply chain. INFAT^® is produced in a plant that operates under a detailed HACCP plan and has defined internal standard of contaminants, which in many cases go further than the legal requirements for potential hazardous contaminants.

In addition, INFAT^® has been certified to the most stringent quality standards, including:

+ ISO 9001 Quality certification

+ FSSC 22000 Food Safety System Certification

+ ISO 14001 Environment certification

+ Kosher and Halal certification

INFAT^® is sold and marketed in numerous territories worldwide, including Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and China. Its use as an innovative ingredient for infant formulas is growing fast. In 2014 alone, 16 new infant formula brands with INFAT^® were launched around the globe.

The richest non-human source for palmitic acid is, as its name suggests, palm oil, and this is why palm oil has become the best source for supplying this fatty acid to infant formula. It has been found that infant formula without palm oil does not provide sufficient levels of essential fatty acids as found in mother’s milk.
However, palm oil alone is not enough! Its natural format is different from mother’s milk and may cause calcium soap formation and stool hardness, and it may reduce calcium absorption. Therefore, palm oil needs to be restructured in a way that mimics the composition of palmitic acid in mother’s milk.
With INFAT^®, Advanced Lipids managed to break this code, bringing the best of all worlds to infant formula. As it contains palmitic acid in both the same levels and structure as it occurs in mother’s milk, INFAT^® supplies the palmitic acid ingredient that is crucial for baby’s growth, in a way that is just as Mother Nature intended.

INFAT^® has been clinically tested in a series of clinical trials in hundreds of healthy babies around the world. These studies have shown that infant formulas containing INFAT^® have a fat structure which is closer to the fat structure of mother’s milk.

Therefore it provides similar nutritional and functional benefits relating to enhanced beneficial gut flora, controlled intestinal health, softer stools, and increased bone strength. Recently, we were able to demonstrate also that INFAT^® reduced infant crying time by up to 75%, mainly in the late afternoon and evening time, during infants’ first weeks of life.