HUMAN-MILK FORTIFIERS

Unsupplemented human milk does not normally provide enough protein and minerals to secure optimal growth in low birthweight infants. We comp ared the growth and biochemical status of 21 very low birthweight infa nts, fed on their own mothers' fortified milk (seven infants) or a hig h-caloric-density formula (14 infants). The human milk fortifier is ma de from a mixture of cows' milk proteins (40% whey, 45% casein) and am ino acids (15%) and has been demonstrated to be appropriate to achieve a plasma amino acid profile similar to that of normal infants fed exc lusively on human milk. Infants receiving fortified human milk showed growth and biochemical profiles comparable to those receiving high-cal oric-density formula. The supplementation that we describe here confir ms the good results well documented by other authors. It is easy to pe rform and can be an acceptable alternative to the more sophisticated p rocedure of ''lacto-engineering''.