title: Vitamin E requirements of preterm infants.
abstract: Differences between feeding practices in earlier investigations prompted the present study of iron and vitamin E supplementation in breast milk fed preterm infants. A new and highly sensitive technique for quantitation of alpha-tocopherol in serum was used. Studies on 34 infants with a birth weight below 2000 g or gestational age less than or equal to 35 weeks showed that supplementation with 16.5 mg tocopheryl acetate/day from 10 days of age resulted in a significantly higher haemoglobin concentration and lower reticulocyte count at 8-10 weeks than supplementation with 1.5 mg/day (p is less than 0.05). Studies on 23 infants with a birth weight of 2000-2499 g revealed subnormal alpha-tocopherol levels in 2 of the infants given 1.5 mg tocopheryl acetate/day but there was no effect on the haemoglobin concentration at 8-10 weeks. There were no untoward effects of an early iron supplementation with 2-3 mg Fe++ (as ferrous succinate)/kg/day. It is concluded that extra supplementation with vitamin E is advisable also in breast milk fed preterm infants. A low dosage iron supplementation from 3 weeks of age is safe.
mesh_terms: D001772:Blood Cell Count; D001792:Blood Platelets; D001942:Breast Feeding; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007501:Iron / Q000008:administration & dosage; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D012156:Reticulocytes; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins; D014810:Vitamin E; D007501:Iron