title: Evaluation of the deuterium dilution technique against the test-weighing procedure for the determination of breast milk intake.
abstract: A noninvasive isotopic method for the determination of milk intake in breast-fed infants was evaluated against the conventional method of test-weighing. In experiment 1, 48-h breast milk intake was estimated concurrently by the test-weighing procedure and by the deuterium dilution technique. In experiment 2, the isotopic method, modified to minimize fluctuations in water flux, was evaluated against a 24-h test-weighing. In experiment 1, the mean 48-h milk intake estimated by the isotopic method (1616 +/- 353 ml) was significantly higher than that measured by the test-weighing procedure (1449 +/- 234 ml) (p less than 0.01). In experiment 2, 24-h milk intake as determined by test-weighing and deuterium dilution averaged 878.0 +/- 188.1 and 690.7 +/- 141.4 ml/day, respectively, and differed significantly (p less than 0.001). The ability of the deuterium dilution method to predict values obtained by the test-weighing procedure was unsatisfactory for individual estimations. These experiments indicate that the deuterium dilution technique is unacceptable for the determination of breast-milk intake in individuals, but may be satisfactory for a population estimation.
mesh_terms: D001834:Body Water / Q000378:metabolism; D001835:Body Weight; D001942:Breast Feeding; D003903:Deuterium; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011865:Radioisotope Dilution Technique
chemical_list: D003903:Deuterium