Milk powder is a powder made by removing water from milk so that It is suitable for preservation. Milk powder is processed from fresh milk from farm or goat milk by freezing or heating, removing almost all the moisture in milk, and adding appropriate vitamins and minerals after drying. Breast milk is the best food for newborn babies. However, due to various reasons, mothers may not be able to provide adequate breast milk for their babies. Mothers prefer to buy and sell breast milk. In this situation, babies have to drink milk powder to absorb the necessary nutrition for growth.
In order to give the baby comprehensive nutrition, many parents do enough research and studies to seek the right milk powder or substitution for milk for their baby. This article is also prepared for the parents to find suitable milk powder for your babies. It can give you a brief and comprehensive understanding of the main ingredients of formula milk powder.
The main components of milk powder are protein, such as casein and whey protein; fat, such as lecithin; carbohydrates, such as oligosaccharides, monosaccharides, disaccharides; minerals, such as calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium; vitamins, such as vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B12, vitamin C. It also contains various fatty acids, such as ARA, DHA, linoleic acid,α-Linolenic acid, and taurine. There are also probiotics and other beneficial bacteria. Today, we mainly choose some important components to introduce their role.
1. Casein
The good protein source is the basis of human metabolism and growth and is an important component of all human cells and tissues.
Casein is one of the most important proteins in milk powder. Casein is the most abundant protein in milk. It can prevent and cure osteoporosis and rickets, promote in vitro fertilization, regulate blood pressure, treat iron deficiency anemia and magnesium deficiency neuritis and other physiological effects, especially its promotion of constant elements (Ca, Mg). ) The highly efficient absorption of trace elements (Fe, Zn, Cu, Cr, Ni, Co, Mn, Se) makes it known as a "mineral carrier". It can combine with metal ions, especially calcium ions to form soluble complexes.
On the one hand, it effectively avoids the precipitation of calcium in the neutral or slightly alkaline environment of the small intestine. On the other hand, calcium can be absorbed by intestinal parietal cells without the involvement of VD, so CPPs are one of the most effective calcium absorption factors. Its discovery provides a new method for the development of calcium supplement products.
2. Lecithin
It is not only an important component of human tissues but also one of the main materials to provide heat. Lecithin is a kind of fat. 90% of the exogenous choline needed by the human body is supplied by lecithin. Lecithin can improve the activity of brain cells, memory and intelligence. In the 1960s, scientists found that lecithin may have a protective effect on the heart. In further research, it was finally confirmed that lecithin has a positive effect on heart health.
3. Oligosaccharides
It is a new functional sugar source instead of sucrose. The function of oligosaccharides is (1) to improve the micro-ecological environment of human body, to promote the proliferation of bifidobacteria and other beneficial bacteria, to produce organic acids through metabolism, to reduce the intestinal pH value, to inhibit the growth of Salmonella and putrefactive bacteria, to regulate gastrointestinal function and to inhibit putrefactive substances in the intestine. Change stool characteristics, prevent and cure constipation, increase vitamin synthesis, and improve human immune systems. It can prevent dental caries by not being formed by dental caries bacteria or coagulating bacteria.
4. Minerals Iron
iron are essential elements in infant milk powder. Iron is an essential trace element in the human body. The total amount of iron in the human body is about 4-5 grams. It is an important part of hemoglobin. It is needed all over the body. This mineral can exist in red blood cells supplying oxygen to muscles. It is also a component of many enzymes and immune system compounds. The human body absorbs most of the iron needed from food. And carefully control the iron content. Iron can also promote development, increase resistance to disease, regulate tissue respiration, prevent fatigue, constitute heme, prevent and treat anemia caused by iron deficiency, and restore good skin color.
5. Vitamins
Vitamins are one of the important milk nutritional facts.
Vitamin A, function:
1. maintain normal visual function
2. maintain the health of epithelial cells and promote the synthesis of immunoglobulin.
3. Vitamin A promotes protein biosynthesis and osteocyte differentiation by maintaining normal skeletal growth and development.
Vitamin B1, participating in sugar catabolism in the form of a coenzyme, which can protect the nervous system, promote gastrointestinal peristalsis and increase appetite. When vitamin B1 is deficient, a variety of neuroinflammation, such as beriberi, can be recorded.
6. ARA
ARA, also known as arachidonic acid, is also a polyunsaturated fatty acid. It is an essential nutrient for a baby's physical development. It can be converted from the linoleic acid, a human needed fatty acids, in an adult's body. It does not belong to an essential fatty acid. However, in infants, the baby's ability to synthesize ARA is a week. For babies in the golden development age, providing certain ARA in food will be more conducive to their physical development. ARA belongs to essential fatty acids in early childhood. The lack of ARA may have serious adverse effects on the development of human tissues and organs, especially on the brain and nervous system function.
7. DHA
DHA is a major component of the growth and maintenance of nervous system cells. It is an important component of the brain and retina. The content of DHA in the human cerebral cortex is as high as 20%, and it accounts for the largest proportion in the eyes and retina, accounting for about 50%.
Therefore, it is very important for the development of intelligence and vision of fetuses and infants. Promote fetal brain development. During pregnancy, DHA can optimize the phospholipid composition of fetal brain pyramidal cells. Especially after 5 months, if the fetus is artificially stimulated by hearing, vision and touch, it will cause more dendrites in the sensory center of the fetal cerebral cortex, which requires the mother to supply more DHA to the fetus at the same time.
DHA can also promote the maturation of retinal photoreceptor cells. DHA not only plays an important role in the development of the fetal brain but also plays an important role in the maturation of retinal photoreceptor cells. Pregnant women can improve the maturity of nerve cells by ingesting DHA during pregnancy and then transporting it to the fetal brain and retina. It is worth mentioning that linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid belong to fatty acids and can synthesize DHA inside the body.
8. Taurine
Taurine is a colorless or white oblique crystal, odorless, also known as Beta-Aminoethylsulfonic acid. Its function: promote the brain tissue and intellectual development of infants and young children. Taurine is abundant and widely distributed in the brain. It can promote the growth and development of the nervous system, cell proliferation, and differentiation in a dose-dependent manner.
Taurine plays an important role in the development of nerve cells in the brain. Studies have shown that the content of taurine in the brain of premature infants is significantly lower than that of the full-month baby because the (CSAD) in premature infants has not yet matured and the synthesis of taurine is insufficient to meet the needs of the body and needs to be supplemented by breast milk.
The content of taurine in breast milk is higher, especially in colostrum. If the supplement is insufficient, the growth and development of children will be slow and the intellectual development will be slow. Taurine is closely related to the development of the central nervous system and retina in infants and fetuses. Long-term simple milk feeding can easily lead to a lack of taurine, so milk powder for adults or for babies is necessary.
9. Folic acid
Folic acid, also known as vitamin B9, is a water-soluble vitamin. It can promote the maturation of young cells in the bone marrow. Human beings, such as folic acid deficiency, can cause melanocytic anemia and leukopenia, which is especially important for pregnant women.
These are some essential elements in milk powder. Some are necessary, some are added in the milk powder manufacturing process for the health of the baby. Moms and fathers must see clearly when they buy milk powder, and try to provide these essential nutrients as much as possible.