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How do infants acquire creatine?
Author(s) -
Brosnan Margaret E,
Edison Erica E,
Brosnan John T
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.807.5
Subject(s) - creatine , breast milk , arginine , infant formula , methionine , zoology , amino acid , medicine , glycine , breast feeding , pediatrics , endocrinology , chemistry , biology , biochemistry
A growing infant acquires creatine (CR) from mother's milk (or infant formula) and/or de novo synthesis. We have measured CR and guanidinoacetate (GAA) content of mother's milk and of a number of commonly used infant formulas. We used these data to estimate CR intake by breast‐fed and formula‐fed infants and to compare these estimates to the infants’ daily requirements for CR. Our data reveal that diet is a relatively minor source of CR in breast‐fed infants; therefore, the great bulk of new CR must be synthesized by the infant. The GAA concentration in milk and formulas is extremely low. The situation with formula‐fed infants is more complex. The CR levels in cows’ milk‐based formulas are higher than in mothers’ milk so that the burden of CR synthesis is less in infants fed these formulas than in breast‐fed infants. Soy‐based formulas, however, contain essentially no CR; infants fed these formulas must synthesize all of their CR endogenously. These data have implications for infants suffering from CR‐deficiency syndromes as well as for the burden that CR synthesis places on infants’ glycine, arginine, and methionine metabolism (the amino acids required for CR synthesis). Funded by CIHR