Influence of chemical forms and homogenization process on the stability of vitamin A in infant follow-on formulas

Vitamin A is an essential micronutrient for infant development, and its stability is crucial to ensure adequate intake. This study aimed to investigate the vitamin A stability in infant follow-on formulas (IFF) depending on its chemical forms and on the homogenization process. For this propose, model IFF representative of commercialized formulas were formulated with varying vitamin A forms (retinol, retinyl esters or carotenoids) and homogenization process applied. Losses of vitamin A were assessed either before or after the homogenization process, or after a storage of 20 days at 40 °C. The homogenization process led to a vitamin A loss up to 14.3% at high pressure (350/40 bars, 8 passes) explained by important shearing forces leading to local heating of molecules. The presence of carotenoids and especially β-carotene led to a stabilization effect with a loss of only 40.7% of vitamin A during storage compared to 84.9% without carotenoids. Carotenoids provide a better resistance to lipid oxidation due to their synergetic effect with vitamin E. This study highlights that a good knowledge of vitamin A reactivity during processing and selection of chemical form with potential synergy with other compounds can improve its stability in IFF. • A gentle homogenization process leading to droplet size in the micrometer range has a limited effect on vitamin A loss. • Retinyl acetate has superior stability during processing and storage than retinol in infant formulas. • The presence of carotenoids in infant formulas improves vitamin A stability. • Carotenoid stability depends on lipid droplet size (0.4 or 0.7 μm). • Vitamin A overage has no additional beneficial effect and should be avoided.