Soy bean (Vegetable) milk in infant feeding: Results of three and one-half years' study on the growth and development of 205 infants

Abstract

Summary<ul><li>1.A study of the results of soy bean milk feeding is presented, covering a period of three and one-half years. Two hundred five infants were fed this "milk" over variable periods. Growth and development, weight gains and their general progress point to the adequacy of this milk as a prophylactic food.</li><li>2.The preparations used have been shown to contain adequate amounts of the essential vitamins, and metabolic investigations have demonstrated a relatively high biologic value.</li><li>3.Soy bean milk in combination with various percentages of skimmed milk protein affords a food of high nutritional availability.</li><li>4.Blood studies have shown a normal range of calcium and phosphorus (serum), and roentgenologic studies demonstrate good bony development and texture with few exceptions. Suspicious signs of rickets in a few instances have not been corroborated clinically nor serologically.</li><li>5.The stool flora show a high percentage of gram-positive organisms, thus resembling those of breast-fed infants.</li><li>6.Soy bean milk is of practical value in the dietetic treatment of infantile eczema and in the treatment of constipation in infants by virtue of the "roughage" factor.</li></ul>