title: Breast-milk intake of 9-10-mo-old rural infants given a ready-to-use complementary food in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lipid-based ready-to-use foods are currently used for infant feeding, but their potential effect on breast-milk intake is not well documented.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective was to assess the breast-milk intake of 9-10-mo-old infants given either a ready-to-use complementary food (RUCF) paste or a standard corn-soy blend (UNIMIX) porridge in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.
  
  
  METHODS
  Infants were randomly assigned at 6 mo of age to receive either RUCF (n = 700) or UNIMIX (n = 700) for 6 mo. Breast-milk intake was measured at 9-10 mo in a subsample of 58 infants (29 from each group). Mothers received a dose of ≈30 g deuterium oxide. Predose and postdose saliva samples were collected from both mothers and infants over 2 wk. Breast-milk intake (g/d) was measured from saliva samples by using infrared spectroscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean (±SD) breast-milk intake was not significantly (P = 0.69) different between the 2 groups: RUCF (705 ± 236 g/d) and UNIMIX (678 ± 285 g/d). Mean (±SD) nonmilk oral water intakes were 338.3 ± 251.1 and 336.4 ± 227.2 g/d for RUCF and UNIMIX, respectively (P = 0.98).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  No differences in breast-milk intake were observed between infants consuming either RUCF or UNIMIX. The deuterium-dose-to-the-mother dilution technique is an affordable technique that we recommend for periodic evaluation of breast-milk intake in resource-poor settings. This trial is registered at controlled-trials.com as ISRCTN20267635.
authors: Valid Nutrition, Nairobi, Kenya. victor@validnutrition.org
authors: Victor O
authors: VO
authors: Owino
authors: Paluku
authors: P
authors: Bahwere
authors: Ghislain
authors: G
authors: Bisimwa
authors: Christine M
authors: CM
authors: Mwangi
authors: Steve
authors: S
authors: Collins
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding; D015023:Democratic Republic of the Congo; D017666:Deuterium Oxide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002523:Edible Grain; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007225:Infant Food; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D008297:Male; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000378:metabolism; D012424:Rural Population; D013025:Glycine max; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared; D014867:Water / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003313:Zea mays
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats; D014867:Water; D017666:Deuterium Oxide