Suggested citation: Camelo Jr. JS, Martinez FE. Nutritional dilemmas in extremely low birth weight infants and their effects on childhood, adolescence and adulthood. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2005;81(1 Suppl):S33-S42.
AbstractObjective: To review the recent medical literature on nutrition of extremely low birth weight infants, focusing on nutritional dilemmas and their effects on childhood, adolescence and adulthood.Sources of data: An extensive review of the related literature was performed using MEDLINE, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and the Best Evidence database.
Summary of the findings:There is a growing body of evidence that early nutritional practices may affect shortterm growth and development outcome. In addition, these practices may play a role in determining adult health and disease. There is still much to be learned about safe and efficacious nutrient administration in preterm infants; about techniques to assess the effect of different nutritional strategies; and about the long-term effects of these regimens on development outcome, growth and disease.Conclusion: Despite recent progress in neonatal nutrition, there is a lack of basic and clinical research to better define the nutritional requirements of preterm infants and the best way to meet these requirements, avoiding longterm undesirable consequences.J Pediatr (Rio J). 2005;81(1 Suppl):S33-S42: Nutrition, human milk, prematurity, parenteral nutrition, enteral nutrition, nutritional programming.