Scientists have discovered a surprising source for a key healthy fat that can make infant formula more like mothers' milk: Hazelnuts.
American Chemical Society researchers, writing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, reported developing a healthy "designer fat" that, when added to infant formula, provides a key nutrient premature babies need in high quantities, but isn't available in large enough amounts in mothers' milk.

The new nutrient, based on hazelnut oil, also could boost nutrition for babies who are bottle-fed.

Casimir Akoh and colleagues noted breast milk naturally provides healthful omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids that are important for the development of the brain and other organs. Babies in the womb also receive those healthful fats naturally during the final three months of pregnancy.

But premature infants don't get full exposure to them in the uterus because they are born too soon and breast milk doesn't contain high enough levels when the infants are born.
The new “designer fat” Akoh's team developed from hazelnut oil, however, closely mimics the fatty acids in human milk and is suitable for the supplementation of infant formulas.
Akoh’s study was funded, in part, by the University of Georgia.