Lesson 5: Lipids
5.1 Introduction
Lipids constitute a very important part in preterm infant nutrition. Preterm infants use lipids as their major source of energy. Preterm infants, especially ELBW and VLBW infants, who have not undergone the normal fat accretion which takes place in late gestation, are born with very low fat stores. For example, a 1000g infant has a total body fat content of only about 20g (2%). They are reliant on exogenous sources of lipids (enteral, parenteral or both) to meet the bulk of their energy needs. Additionally to their importance as energy supplier, dietary lipids have been demonstrated to play an important role in infant growth, infant development and long term health (Lapillonne 2014).
Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA's) are of special interest. The n-3 and n-6 LC-PUFA's have been shown to be important in neurodevelopment and visual cortical maturation in the retina. The fetal brain grows rapidly during the last trimester of gestation and LC-PUFA's are believed to be required for this growth. Insufficient dietary lipid or LC-PUFA supply can lead to impaired neurodevelopment that may cause future long-lasting effects. Moreover, LC-PUFA's are also believed to exert significant modulatory effects on growth, body composition, immune responses and allergic reactions (Koletzko et al. 2005, Koletzko et al. 2014).
Picture used with kind permission of Dr. Darius Gruszfeld