Breastfeeding is important for brain growth of premature babies

Washington DC: According to a recent study, it seems that feeding premature babies mainly from bad milk during the first month of life stimulates more robust brain growth. The details were presented at the meeting of the pediatric academic societies.

"Our previous research has established that vulnerable premature infants who are badfed early in life have an improvement in brain growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes." It was unclear what made badfeeding as beneficial to the bad. brain development of newborns Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, a non-invasive imaging technique that describes the chemical composition of specific brain structures, allows us to measure the metabolites essential for growth and to answer this question persistent, "said Catherine Limperopoulos, director of research at the MRI.

Research clinicians recruited low birth weight babies (less than 1,500 grams) and more than 32 weeks of age at birth during the first week of life. The team then collected data on the right frontal white matter and the cerebellum, a region of the brain that allows people to maintain balance and adequate muscle coordination and support high-level cognitive functions. The team generated light signatures for key metabolites and calculated the amount of each metabolite. To note:

– The cerebral white matter showed significantly higher levels of a glucose-like molecule in bad-fed babies, compared to formula-fed babies.

– And the percentage of days babies were badfed was badociated with significantly higher levels of these two water-soluble nutrients.

"Key metabolite levels rise as babies' brains grow exponentially, and greater amounts of this metabolite indicate faster changes and higher cell maturation." Choline is a marker of cell membrane turnover. When new cells are generated, we observe increased choline levels, "said Katherine M. Ottolini, lead author of the study.

Already national, Children's National operates a range of imaging options describing normal brain growth, which facilitates the detection of cerebral development of the fetus or newborn, allowing intervention to occur. earlier and more effective treatment.

"Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy can be an important additional tool to advance our understanding of how badfeeding stimulates neurodevelopment in premature infants," Limperopoulos adds.