A YSI customer is using the YSI 2700 analyser to measure choline levels in the infant formula milk that it produces.
This measurement is critical and it is essential that the analyser used gives a high level of precision.
Choline is a chemical similar to the B-vitamins, but is not yet recognised as an 'official' B-vitamin.
It is not completely understood how it interacts with other nutrients, but it is known that it is vital for human development, from foetus through to adulthood.
The human body can make some itself, but it is generally recognised that it is important to get sufficient dietary choline.
This is especially the case with infants where the need is greater due to their rapid pace of development.
Nutrition researchers became interested in choline when it was found that foetal rats whose mothers did not get enough choline in their diets had less brain development and poorer memories after birth than those whose mothers ate adequate amounts of the nutrient.
This led to research that suggests choline may not just be essential for brain development, but may help prevent memory loss associated with ageing.
It is also used in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
Choline has also been shown to protect the liver from certain types of damage and help lower cholesterol and homocysteine levels.
As infants need choline for their development, human milk has naturally high levels of choline and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that this be replicated in infant milk formula.
YSI's infant milk customer has been using the YSI 2700 for many years to measure choline levels in its product in order to meet the FDA requirements.
