Plasma amino acids in preterm infants fed different human milk diets from a human milk bank

Abstract

Summary Background & aims The enzymatic immaturity of the amino acid metabolic pathways in preterm infants makes these children vulnerable to deficiencies or amino acid excess. The purposes of this study was to evaluate the plasma amino acid profile of preterm infants fed one of three diets, and then compare them to the reference standards for preterm infants. Methods Thirty low-birthweight preterm infants were randomly assigned to diets: unmodified banked human milk (n=10), banked human milk evaporated to 70% (n=10), and banked human milk fortified with a bovine whey protein hydrolysate (n=10). Amino acid concentrations were analyzed by high efficiency liquid chromatography. Results No significant statistical differences in the amino acid profiles were found across groups. With few exceptions (arginine and glutamic acid), plasma amino acid concentrations in the three groups were lower than or reached the minimum values of references found in the literature for preterm infants. Conclusions The diets utilized led to deficiencies in amino acids, relative to the reference standards. It can be concluded that the supplies of these nutrients were below the needs of the infants in all groups.