## 3 Results and Discussion
### \({}^{1}h\) NMR Low Molecular Weight Water Soluble Metabolites of IF
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**IF1 (\(n=3\))**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**IF2 (\(n=3\))**} \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Metabolites**} & **Mean** & \multirow{2}{*}{**Mean**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Mean**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Mean**} \\  & **SD** & & & **SD** \\ \hline \multicolumn{5}{c}{Amino acids} \\ Alanine & 0.09 \(\pm\) 0.01 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 2.7 & 0.032 \(\pm\) 0.009 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 1.5 \\ Anserine & 0.10 \(\pm\) 0.02 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 3.0 & 0.031 \(\pm\) 0.002 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 1.5 \\ Glutamate & 0.28 \(\pm\) 0.01 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 8.1 & 0.11 \(\pm\) 0.04 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 5.3 \\ Isoleucine & 0.26 \(\pm\) 0.03 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 7.5 & 0.08 \(\pm\) 0.01 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 3.8 \\ Leucine & 0.287 \(\pm\) 0.004 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 8.3 & 0.102 \(\pm\) 0.041 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 4.9 \\ Lysine & 0.208 \(\pm\) 0.007 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 6.0 & 0.087 \(\pm\) 0.031 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 4.2 \\ Proline & 0.44 \(\pm\) 0.13 & 12.5 & 0.29 \(\pm\) 0.04 & 14.2 \\ Threonine & 0.044 \(\pm\) 0.003 & 1.3 & 0.038 \(\pm\) 0.012 & 1.8 \\ Valline & 0.030 \(\pm\) 0.005 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 0.9 & 0.019 \(\pm\) 0.003 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 0.9 \\ Organic acids & & & & \\ Acetate & 0.069 \(\pm\) 0.009 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 2.0 & 0.035 \(\pm\) 0.003 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 1.7 \\ Citrate & 0.7 \(\pm\) 0.1 & 21.6 & 0.6 \(\pm\) 0.1 & 30.8 \\ Formate & 0.024 \(\pm\) 0.001 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 0.7 & 0.015 \(\pm\) 0.002 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 0.7 \\ Hippurate & 0.046 \(\pm\) 0.003 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 1.3 & 0.031 \(\pm\) 0.002 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 1.5 \\ \multicolumn{5}{c}{Nucleotides} \\ UDP-N-Acetylglucosamine & 0.018 \(\pm\) 0.001 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 0.5 & 0.025 \(\pm\) 0.010 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 1.2 \\ UDP-galactose & 0.08 \(\pm\) 0.01 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 2.4 & 0.06 \(\pm\) 0.01 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 3.1 \\ UDP-glucose & 0.067 \(\pm\) 0.007 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 1.9 & 0.062 \(\pm\) 0.015 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 3.0 \\ Uridine & 0.040 \(\pm\) 0.012 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 1.2 & 0.041 \(\pm\) 0.007 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 2.0 \\ Others & & & & \\ Caprylate & 0.113 \(\pm\) 0.007 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 3.3 & 0.042 \(\pm\) 0.001 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 2.0 \\ Choline & 0.020 \(\pm\) 0.002 & 0.6 & 0.018 \(\pm\) 0.004 & 0.9 \\ O-Phosphocholine & 0.027 \(\pm\) 0.004 & 0.8 & 0.023 \(\pm\) 0.006 & 1.1 \\ sn-Glycerol-3-phosphocholine & 0.14 \(\pm\) 0.02 & 4.1 & 0.12 \(\pm\) 0.01 & 5.8 \\ Creatine & 0.035 \(\pm\) 0.002 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 1.0 & 0.024 \(\pm\) 0.003 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 1.2 \\ Pantothanate & 0.066 \(\pm\) 0.008 & 1.9 & 0.055 \(\pm\) 0.015 & 2.7 \\ Fucose & 0.223 \(\pm\) 0.007 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 6.4 & 0.087 \(\pm\) 0.020 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 4.2 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} †  
\end{table} 
Table 6: NMR metabolite concentrations expressed in mM per 100 mL for liquid milk-derived formulations IF1 and IF2, to be used in the production of first stage (from 0 to 6 months of age) and follow-on (from 6 to 12 months of age) infant formulae, respectively. not mandatory [38]. No traces of orotic acid, a pyrimidine derivative, were detectable. Unlike cow's milk, orotic acid is not found in appreciable quantities in sheep milk or human milk [44]. The effect on neonates' health of orotic acid is a matter of debate [45]. Among monosaccharides we found fucose, while glucose and galactose were detected in negligible quantities. Fucose is one of the possible glycosidic residues of glycosylated proteins. Fucose in its free form is present in human breast milk and its addition has been proposed for use in infant formulae to better simulate the free saccharides present in human breast milk [46]. Fucose plays important roles in the development of the immune and nervous systems and is involved in cognitive function and memory formation. Among the low-molecular-weight NPN constituents, we detected creatine and choline analogues (O-Phosphocholine and sn-Glycero-3-phosphocholine). Choline shows several important biological functions and is considered an essential nutrient in human nutrition, from the fetus to old age [47].