03/11/2012 (The Star) - The benefits of breast milk the preferred food for babies are well-documented.

Mother's milk has a unique fatty acid composition that maximises calcium and fat absorption in the infant. Apart from it being vital for growth, breast milk also helps to reduce constipation, colic and bowel obstruction.

Health benefits aside, breastfeeding is a tender bonding moment between mother and child. But when breastfeeding is not an option, mothers turn to infant formula.

Typically, the fat content in infant formula averages 25%, and is usually derived from different types of vegetable oil. Constipation and hard stools are common among formula-fed infants, besides low calcium and fat uptake. This is due to the fat structure in vegetable oils, says IOI Loders Croklaan group research and development director Dr Alfred Haandrikman.

The fat in breast milk contains specific triglycerides of palmitic and oleic acid (O-P-O triglycerides). “If you look at fats in general, they are composed of fatty acids in the structure of P-O-P instead of O-P-O as in breast milk,” says Haandrikman, and this structural difference has a profound impact on an infant's digestion, absorption and metabolism of nutrients, hence directly affecting or influencing the infant's growth.

“If you feed someone something that contains an O-P-O fat structure, it is absorbed by the body and ends up in the bloodstream in the exact same structure. But, if you give a baby something with a fat structure like P-O-P, that is something completely different,” he says.

For the baby to grow, he says, an incredible amount of fat needs to be converted into body mass, hence the need for the conversion process to be very efficient.

“It takes a lot of energy for the mother to produce milk. Then the milk has to be taken up by the baby and consequently be converted into body weight. So, it's a very efficient system and fat is a very important component of it,” says Haandrikman.

Fat structure

IOI Loders Croklaan created Betapol for infant formula, a blend of natural vegetable oils that mimics the structure of fat in breast milk.

“Betapol is palm oil restructured, and it is an ingredient that replaces the fat in infant formula,” Haandrikman says.

Betapol was introduced in the European market in 1996, and entered China and South Korea about four years ago. The product was developed out of a need to overcome problems arising from the different fat structure in vegetable oils used in infant formula.

“Research started in the 1970s and 80s because it had become apparent then that the structure of the fat is very important in determining how it acts. The structure of vegetable fats was causing the problem. Once you know the problem, naturally people start to look for a solution. That's how the idea came about to rearrange the structure of palm oil.”

IOI Loders Croklaan, which supplies fats and oils to the global food industry, is a fully-owned subsidiary of IOI Corporation Bhd of Malaysia since December 2002 and has its headquarters in Wormerveer, the Netherlands.

It has patented the enzymatic rearrangement process of Betapol, and manufacturers of infant formula now incorporate Betapol in their products.

Malaysian market

While Betapol is produced in Wormerveer, IOI Loders Croklaan has set up a plant in Pasir Gudang, Johor.

“We have now replicated the process in the Pasir Gudang plant. The plant was commissioned in late 2010, but production only started in 2011,” says Haandrikman.

IOI Loders Croklaan via IOI Corporation Bhd is seeking to tap into Malaysia as its newest market for Betapol, and is currently awaiting Health Ministry approval.

Haandrikman is optimistic that infant formula manufacturers here will react positively to the introduction of Betapol, adding that there will be “little price difference” between milk powder with Betapol and those without.

“I still consider mother's milk as the gold standard, but if there is a need for infant formula, why not use something that best mimics mother's milk?” says Haandrikman.