Development Of Preterm And Low Birth Weight Infants’ Formula

This project was supported by the12thFive-year Plan Project on Modern DairyIndustry Development issued by The Ministry of Science and Technology of People’sRepublic of China.The nutritional requirements for the preterm and low birth weight infants aredifferent from those for term infants. Every year, there are approximately1millionpreterm and low birth weight newborns in China. The aim of nutrition support forLBW is not only to just keep them alive, but to set basis for long-term development,which is a systematic work that won’t ends by the time that they are discharged fromhospital. Appropriate feeding for LBW is to provide the quantity and quality ofprotein needed to achieve fetal rates of growth, which must be accomplished in thecontext of the level of physiological and metabolic development of the infant in orderto avoid accumulation of potentially harmful metabolic syndromes that might developinto illnesses associated with metabolic stress in the future, such as hypertension,hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, et al.Human milk is the best food for LBW especially for those newborns whosegestational age is less than6months. Supplemented preterm milk rather than pretermmilk, term milk or term formula is closer to preterm and low birth weight infants’nutritional requirements. Attention must be paid to avoid elevating the osmolality ofthe milk when human milk, banked human milk or formula was supplemented withprotein and minerals. On the other hand, energy-dense formulas are recommended forpremature infants because their tolerance for volume is low. When mother’s milk isnot available, banked human milk is the second choice, and then comes the formula.It’s of great necessity that we should develop formula that matches the specific needsof domestic preterm and low birth weight infants on our own.Total protein, total fat, amino acid profile, the ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acidsand saturated fatty acid, the quantity of different essential fatty acids, totalcarbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and so on are all taken into consideration for thisproduct. This formula for preterm and low birth weight infants has been developedthrough small-scale and medium-scale industrial manufacturing stages. Chemical and physical properties of this formula for preterm and low birthweight infants were analyzed, while a commercial formula for discharged pretermbabies was used as comparasion. Composition, osmolality and amino acid profile ofthe product were reported. Flowability and solubility were also tested. According toGB10767-1997, protein efficiency ratio was evaluated by animal feeding trial.Results showed that this new formula meets the nutritional requirements ofpremature and low birth weight infants and its physiochemical properties are inaccordance with the corresponding National Standard of the People’s Republic ofChina.