Infant nutritional compositions for preventing obesity

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for preventing obesity later in life by administering a certain nutritional composition to an infant with the age between 0 and 36 months. The composition comprises linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the composition comprises 3-50 wt. % MCFA based on total fatty acids. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the weight ratio of LN to ALA is between 2 and 5. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the composition further comprises at least 0.5 wt. % of at least one soluble, non-digestible oligosaccharide based on dry weight of the composition. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the at least one soluble, non-digestible oligosaccharide is selected from the group consisting of fructo-oligosaccharides, galacto-oligosaccharides, gluco-oligosaccharides, arabino-oligosaccharides, mannan-oligosaccharides, xylo-oligosaccharides, fuco-oligosaccharides, arabinogalacto-oligosaccharides, glucomanno-oligosaccharides, galactomanno-oligosaccharides, sialic acid-comprising oligosaccharides and uronic acid oligosaccharides. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the composition comprises galacto-oligosaccharides. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the composition further comprises fructo-oligosaccharides. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein said feeding prevents the development of obesity later-in-life and/or prevents the development of obesity when said infant has reached an age above 36 months. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the composition further comprises:
 (a) 0.5 to 20 wt. % phospholipids based on weight of total lipid in the composition;   (b) 0.5 to 20 wt. % sphingolipids based on weight of total lipid in the composition;   (c) 0.005 to 10 wt. % cholesterol based on weight of total in the composition; and/or   (d) 0.035 to 1 wt. % choline based on dry weight of the composition; and   (e) 0.001 to 0.1 wt. % uridine based on dry weight of the composition.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein
 (a) the lipid component provides 35 to 55% of the total calories of said composition,   (b) the protein component provides 5 to 15% of the total calories of said composition, and   (c) the digestible carbohydrate component provides 30 to 60% of the total calories of said composition.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the composition provides 60-90 kcal/100 ml. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein said feeding prevents the development of obesity at an age above 12 years. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein said feeding is of an infant aged below 12 months. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the composition comprises at least 0.3 wt. % calcium based on dry weight of the composition. 
     
     
         15 . A method to prevent obesity in an a non-obese human infant, comprising feeding a human infant younger than 36 month of age with a nutritional composition that comprises a lipid component, a protein component and a digestible carbohydrate component,
 wherein the lipid component comprises:   linoleic acid (LA) and a-linolenic acid (ALA) in a weight ratio of LA to ALA of between 2 and 7;   (ii) less than 15 wt. % LA based on weight of total fatty acids in the composition; and   (iii) at least 1 wt. % ALA based on weight of total fatty acids in the composition,   
       which composition further comprises at least one of:
 (a) 3-50 wt. % MCFA based on total fatty acids 
 (b) n-6 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) and n-3 LC-PUFA in a weight ratio of below 1.5, wherein the content of the n-6 LC-PUFA and n-3 LC-PUFA are:
 (1) from 0.02 to 0.8 wt. % n-6 LC-PUFA based on total fatty acids, and 
 (2) at least 0.2 wt. % n-3 LC-PUFA based on total fatty acids.