title: Nitrogen and fat balances in very low birth weight infants fed human milk fortified with human milk or bovine milk protein.
abstract: The study was designed to compare two different human milk fortifiers in a group of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants by analysing nitrogen and fat balances, serum concentrations of alpha-amino-nitrogen, urea, and prealbumin as well as growth rates when human milk enriched with one of the two studied fortifiers was fed to the infants. Fortifier A contained different bovine proteins, peptides and amino acids and had an amino acid composition comparable to that of the nutritional available proteins in human milk, with carbohydrates, and minerals. Fortifier B was composed of freeze-dried skimmed human milk and minerals to achieve a similar macronutrient composition in both fortifiers. Eleven infants were fed with human milk enriched with fortifier A and 13 with fortifier B. After a 10-day equilibration period, a 3-day metabolic balance was performed. On the 14th day of the study blood was obtained preprandially for serum analysis and growth rates were estimated. The nitrogen absorption rate (93.8% vs 93.5%) as well as the retention rate (80.8% vs 78.5%) were no different between the groups. The fat absorption rate (92.3% vs 91.5%) as well as the weight gain (32.1 vs 31.1 g/day) were similar and there were no differences in the serum parameters studied. The results indicate that feeding VLBW infants with human milk enriched with a well-balanced bovine fortifier fulfil their nutritional requirements as well as diets composed exclusively of human milk protein.
authors.affiliation: Department of Perinatal Pathology, Provincial Maternity Hospital, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boehm
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Senger
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borte
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Moro
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000378:metabolism*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007225:Infant Food; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008894:Milk Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000378:metabolism; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats; D008894:Milk Proteins; D009584:Nitrogen