Eighteen infants clinically suspected to be intolerant of cow's milk were placed on a milk-free formula and six to eight weeks later were orally challenged with cow's milk. Following challenge three groups were recognised. Group A: Four infants tolerated oral feeds ofcow's milk and lacked mucosal abnormality or clinical symptoms. Group B: Seven infants had mucosal deterioration but lacked clini...

It is universally accepted that breast milk is the optimum exclusive source of nutrition for the first six months of life, and may remain part of the healthy infant diet for the first two years of life and beyond. Despite advances in infant formulas, human breast milk provides a bioactive matrix of benefits that cannot be replicated by any other source of nutrition. When the mother's own milk i...

BACKGROUND Estimation of nitrate and nitrite concentrations of milk sources may provide insight into potential health risks and benefits of these food sources for infants, children, and adults. The World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive consumption of human milk for the first 6 months of life. Human milk is known to confer significant nutritional and i...

OBJECTIVE To compare the effect of unmodified cows' milk and iron supplemented formula milk on psychomotor development in infants from inner city areas when used as the main milk source. DESIGN Double blind, randomised intervention trial. SETTING Birmingham health centre. SUBJECTS 100 infants, mean age 7.8 months (range 5.7 to 8.6 months), whose mothers had already elected to use unmodifi...

Members of the genus Bifidobacterium are abundant in the stool of most human infants during the initial exclusively milk-fed period of life, especially at an age of 2–3 months (Harmsen et al., 2000; Favier et al., 2002; Mariat et al., 2009; Coppa et al., 2011; Turroni et al., 2012; Yatsunenko et al., 2012; Tannock et al., 2013; Barrett et al., 2015). Bifidobacteria dominate the stool microbiota...

Docosahexaenoic (DHA) and arachidonic acids (20:4n-6) are deposited in large amounts in the developing neural tissues of the fetus and neonate. The suckling infants receive both fatty acids via the maternal milk, whereas formula-fed infants must synthesize them de novo from their respective precursors, linoleic (18:2n-6) and alpha-linolenic (18:3n-3) acids. We compared the lipid status of 14- a...

OBJECTIVE To assess the breastfeeding practices in the first 6 months of infants at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out at KAMC in 2005. Infants who attended the primary care centers and well-baby clinic of the hospital for the 6-month's vaccine were included. Mothers were interviewed to collect information on th...

BACKGROUND The gut microbiota of breast-fed and formula-fed infants differ significantly, as do the risks for allergies, gut dysfunction, and upper respiratory tract infections. The connections between breast milk, various formulas, and the profiles of gut bacteria to these childhood illnesses, as well as the mechanisms underlying the effects, are not well understood. METHODS We investigated ...

OBJECTIVES To determine if enteral feeding with donor human milk compared with formula milk reduces the incidence of necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) in preterm or low birthweight infants. METHODS Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. RESULTS Four small trials, all initiated more than 20 years ago, fulfilled the prespecified inclusion criteria. None of the tria...

The possible role of cows' milk protein in prolonging diarrhoea in very young infants with acute infective enteritis was studied in 14 infants, 9 under the age of 2 months and 5 older than 6 months. Bacterial pathogens were isolated from the stools of 4 infants from the younger age group. After appropriate initial treatment the infants were maintained on a cows' milk protein-free formula. 6 wee...