Author: Amin, SB et al.
Source: PEDIATRICS Volume 106, Number 2, August 2000, pages 318-322
This report comes from the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology at the University of Rochester (New York).
The study was designed to determine whether or not there is a beneficial effect of human milk feedings compared with formula feedings on the brain development of preterm infants.
The investigators used brainstem auditory evoked response (BAER) testing to measure the maturation of the bottom portion of the brain (brainstem) in preterm infants born at 28-32 weeks gestation.
In each child tested, a baseline study was performed to determine the brain's nerve function and then the test was repeated about two weeks later to see how the brain had matured.
Only after these tests were completed did the invesitgators look back at each child to determine whether they had been exclusively fed breast milk or formula (those who were fed both were not included in the study).
Of the 37 infants in the study, 17 received human milk and 20 received formula.
While there were no differences in baseline BAER testing between the two groups, the infants fed breast milk demonstrated faster brainstem nerve function than the formula fed infants when tested two weeks later.
The authors interpreted these results to suggest that infants fed breast milk have faster brainstem maturation than infants fed formula.
Click here for more information.
|
