Development of fat digestion in infancy

• Published in: Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition 1999-05, Vol.80 (3), p.F183-F187
• Main Authors: Manson, W G, Coward, W A, Harding, M, Weaver, L T
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Babies; Biological and medical sciences; breath test; Breath Tests; Carbon Isotopes; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dietary Fats - metabolism; Digestion; Fatty acids; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Glycerol; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn - growth & development; Infant, Newborn - metabolism; Infants; Intestinal Mucosa - metabolism; Intestines - growth & development; Isotopes; lipid; Lipids. Glycolipids; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Metabolism; Metabolisms and neurohumoral controls; Milk; Neonates; Olive oil; Original; stable isotope; Stable isotopes; Studies; Triglycerides; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
• ISSN: 1359-2998; 1468-2052
• DOI: 10.1136/fn.80.3.F183

AIM To measure the development of fat digestion in early life, using a stable isotope breath test. METHODS A combined longitudinal and cross sectional study was performed on 30 term and preterm infants using 13C-labelled mixed triglyceride (MTG). Seventy six tests were performed in all. Results were expressed as cumulative percentage dose recovered over 6 hours (cPDR). RESULTS Eighteen of 34 tests performed on infants under 30 days of age showed cPDRs below the normal range for adults and older children. The remainder of tests, performed on infants over 57 days of age, all showed cPDRs within the normal range. Peak PDR correlated significantly (r = 0.928, p