A newly published study shows that after 20 minutes of bottle feeding, the contents of the three most important nutrients (including vitamins A, C and E) for infants' growth all decreased during the feeding process. The results show that the air content in the bottle, the structure design of the bottle and the influence on the vitamin level deserve further discussion.
This study is about "Comparative Analysis of Retinol, Ascorbic Acid and α -vitamin E in Milk with Different Bottled Conveying Systems", which was conducted in Reno University, Nevada, USA. The purpose of studying the bottle is to explore the effects of using the bottle with air guide system and positive pressure delivery and the ordinary bottle without air guide system on the contents of various nutrients in formula milk powder during the 20-minute simulated breastfeeding process. In this study, seven kinds of commonly used bottles, including Dr. Brown's bottle, were used to observe the contents of various nutrients in milk during the 20-minute simulated feeding process.
Dr. Brown can best preserve the nutrients in milk, but other bottles can't!
The chart at the top right shows the loss of vitamin C in milk during the 20-minute simulated feeding in the above study. We can see that from the fifth minute, the content of vitamin C has been lost to varying degrees. During the whole 20-minute feeding process, vitamin C is lost due to air oxidation, and vitamins A and E are also lost. According to the recommendation of the US Food and Nutrition Committee in the Institute of Medicine, a baby of about 6 months should take at least 40 mg of vitamin C, 3 mg of vitamin E and 400 mg of vitamin A every day.
The importance of nutrition to the growth and development of infants
Vitamins C, A and E, these three nutrients are very important for the growth and development of babies. Medical research shows that infants with low intake of vitamin C will have weak resistance and are more likely to cause frequent daily diseases. Infants with insufficient vitamin E intake will have anemia, spinal and brain hypoplasia; Too low intake of vitamin A in infants will destroy the growth of bones and the poor quality of immature bones, and affect the development of bone cells. Vitamin A is also a necessary condition for producing anti-infection related immune cells.
Why can Dr. Brown's bottle preserve the nutrients in milk?
Whether a bottle can preserve the nutrients in milk is determined by its structural design. As we all know, vitamin C has strong reducibility and is easy to be oxidized and lost. When the content of vitamin C decreases to a certain extent, vitamins A and E also begin to lose. The bottles used in the study are different in the way that air enters the bottle to replace air. Only Dr. Brown's milk bottle is replenished to the bottom of the bottle through the air guide system, and the air does not directly pass through the milk and does not generate bubbles. In other bottles, we see that a large number of bubbles are produced during feeding, which leads to the obvious reduction or even complete loss of the three nutrients in milk.