A systematic comparison between infant formula compositions using the Bray-Curtis Similarity Index

BACKGROUND: Making an informed choice between the available infant formulas is challenging, as there is no unbiased tool allowing a systematic comparison between the very long lists of infant formula compositions. AIM: The aim is to present the Bray-Curtis Similarity Index (BCSI) as a tool for systematic comparison between standard stage-1 infant formula (SS-1-IF) compositions. METHODS: We obtained the nutrient levels from the packaging labels of 23 SS-1-IFs available in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, in April 2018. The international legislations that launched infant formula standards endorse targeting the minimum rather than the maximum proposed nutrients levels. Thus, we blindly compared between displayed nutrients levels on each of the 23-studied SS-1-IF and the minimum international proposed nutrient levels via using the BCSI. RESULTS: The range of the total displayed components was 38–57. Except for docosahexaenoic acid, all displayed components were within the standard recommended range. The BCSI summarized all displayed nutrients in a single number. The BCSI of the studied SS-1-IF ranged from 0.4141 to 0.79730. We ranked the 23 studied SS-1-IFs based on the higher BCSI is the closer to the minimum proposed nutrient levels. A dendrogram segregated the SS-1-IFs into four clusters based on their BSCI and total numbers of all displayed components. CONCLUSIONS: We think the BCSI is an appropriate tool for a systematic comparison between SS-1-IFs compositions and may help for choosing a SS-1-IF.