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Breast Milk Protein Percentiles According to Gestational and Postnatal Age: Could It Be Used as a New Alternative in Guided Fortification?

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Abstract

Human milk is the first choice for infant nutrition but it must be multinutrient fortified for optimum growth and neurodevelopment in preterm infants. However, there is no consensus on ideal fortification method. The authors aimed to generate the human-milk protein content percentiles during the first five postnatal weeks in four preterm groups (n = 108) with median gestational age of 32 (23–36) wk, who were fed adjustably fortified breast milk in the NICU between October 2011 and June 2013. Total 540 breast milk samples of mothers of 108 infants were weekly analyzed for protein intake. It was observed that the median human-milk protein levels decreased throughout the five postnatal weeks in all groups. None of the preterm infants was able to take the recommended daily protein intake with the fortification protocol of the authors' unit. Preterm human-milk protein charts can be used as a new practical individualized fortification guiding method instead of laborious targeted or adjustable approaches currently in use.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Health Sciences University, Uz Children’s Hospital, Izmir Behcet, Izmir, 35000, Turkey

    Kamile Arıkan

  2. Department of Neonatology, Faculty of Medicine, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey

    Canan Türkyılmaz, Esra Onal, Ebru Ergenekon, Ibrahim Murat Hirfanoğlu & Esin Koc

  3. Biochemistry Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey

    Canan Yılmaz

Authors
  1. Kamile Arıkan
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  2. Canan Türkyılmaz
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  3. Canan Yılmaz
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  4. Esra Onal
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  5. Ebru Ergenekon
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  6. Ibrahim Murat Hirfanoğlu
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  7. Esin Koc
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Contributions

KA wrote the manuscript; CT and CY helped in the final format; KA, CT, CY, EO, EE, IMH, EK made substantive contributions to the manuscript. All authors endorse the data and conclusions and all the named authors have seen and agreed to the submitted version of paper. KA is the guarantor for this paper.

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Correspondence to Kamile Arıkan.

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Arıkan, K., Türkyılmaz, C., Yılmaz, C. et al. Breast Milk Protein Percentiles According to Gestational and Postnatal Age: Could It Be Used as a New Alternative in Guided Fortification?. Indian J Pediatr 89, 80–82 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-021-03940-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-021-03940-0

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