Early nutrition matters. Clinical studies on the effects of nutritional intake in the early postnatal period of Very Low Birth Weight Infants

Abstract

The aim for treatment of preterm infants is to achieve growth comparable to the intra-uterine situation and functional outcome comparable to term born peers. It is known that most preterm born infants remain smaller, have impaired functional development and are at risk for impaired bone mineralization. Adequate nutritional intake is an important determinant of postnatal development. Two studies evaluated the effects of different nutritional intake provided during the first two weeks of life to very low birth weight infants looking at short- and long-term outcome of growth, neurodevelopment and bone mineralization. Increase of protein intake improved the short-term growth and was positively associated with mental scores in girls and motor development in boys at two years of age. Bone content was positively associated with human milk, however optimal enrichment of human milk needs further study. Former preterm born children at age 9 to 10 years were able to achieve length and bone mineralization comparable to Dutch children of the same age.