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Body Composition of Very Low‐Birth‐Weight Infants Fed Fortified Human Milk: A Pilot Study
Author(s) -
McNelis Kera,
Liu Chunyan,
Ehrlich Shelley,
Fields Christopher,
Fields Trayce,
Poindexter Brenda
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of parenteral and enteral nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.935
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1941-2444
pISSN - 0148-6071
DOI - 10.1002/jpen.1931
Subject(s) - medicine , composition (language) , low birth weight , neonatal intensive care unit , percentile , birth weight , zoology , physiology , pregnancy , pediatrics , biology , mathematics , philosophy , linguistics , genetics , statistics
Background Although donor milk is increasingly fed to preterm infants, the resultant quality of growth and body composition is unknown. The aim of this pilot study was to describe the body composition of very low‐birth‐weight infants fed human milk in the neonatal intensive care unit and explore the association between the proportion of donor human milk intake and fat‐free and fat mass deposition. Methods Body composition of 30 preterm infants fed maternal and donor human milk was measured by air displacement plethysmography. Regression models were developed to associate each parameter of body composition with the proportion of donor milk intake and other explanatory variables. Results The proportion of donor milk intake was negatively associated with body fat percentage ( P = .01). Fat‐free mass z ‐scores ranged from −4.6 to 1.11 (mean z ‐score of −0.95, 17th percentile). Conclusion Donor human milk intake is negatively associated with body fat percentage in this pilot study of very low‐birth‐weight preterm infants.