Ribonucleotides: Conditionally essential nutrients shown to enhance immune function and reduce diarrheal disease in infants

Summary It remains a goal of pediatric nutrition to provide optimal nourishment for infants who are not fed human milk. Investigators have attempted to emulate the composition and functionality of human milk, the gold standard for infant nutrition. These efforts began with the analysis of milk compo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Seminars in fetal & neonatal medicine 2007-02, Vol.12 (1), p.35-44
Main Authors: Schaller, J.P, Buck, R.H, Rueda, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conditionally essential
Diarrhea, Infantile - prevention & control
Dietary Supplements
Human milk feeding
Humans
Immune function
Immune System - drug effects
Infant Food
Infant formula
Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
Infant, Newborn
Milk, Human
Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine
Nucleotides
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Ribonucleotides
Ribonucleotides - administration & dosage
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Summary It remains a goal of pediatric nutrition to provide optimal nourishment for infants who are not fed human milk. Investigators have attempted to emulate the composition and functionality of human milk, the gold standard for infant nutrition. These efforts began with the analysis of milk components and continued with assessments of biological effects that culminated in clinical studies in infants. This chapter summarizes the path that researchers followed to study ribonucleotides and their role in infant nutrition. Based on analytical methods for the quantification of ribonucleotides in human milk, investigators assessed their potential impact on the immune systems of infants and looked for concomitant mechanistic explanations. These inquiries evolved into clinical trials in which ribonucleotide-supplemented formula performance was compared with that of non-supplemented formulas and with human milk. This chapter intends to summarize an area of pediatric nutrition that has yielded both enlightening evidence and seemingly contradictory data.
ISSN:1744-165X
1878-0946
DOI:10.1016/j.siny.2006.10.005