Quantitative phospholipid omics of human milk, milk powder and ingredients: further optimization for infant formula

To reduce the differences in phospholipids (PLs) of human milk and infant formula, PL-rich raw materials and finished milk powder from the infant formula production line were collected and the phospholipids profiles of raw materials were systematically analyzed by LC-Q-TOF based on phospholipid omics. 108 phospholipids were detected in infant formula, 73 of which were common to human milk, the content of the different phospholipid molecules varied. For the production of raw materials, whey protein concentrate and arachidonic acid powder have the most similar structure to human milk. By varying the ratio of each ingredient, formula can be made closer to human milk. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was applied for the optimization of the ratio of raw materials to closely mimic the human milk. Based on the optimized ratio, the optimized formulas were prepared. PCA analysis proved that the optimized formulas were highly effective in mimicking human milk.