Doctoral CRP on Stable Isotope Techniques to Assess Intake of Human Milk and Body Composition of Infants and Young Children up to Two Years of Age

Exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, followed by the introduction of appropriate complementary foods and continued breastfeeding, as recommended by the World Health Organization and UNICEF (1), are cornerstones in infant nutrition. However, only limited information is available on the quantities of human milk consumed and the time of introduction of other foods into the infants’ diet, in particular in developing countries. The lack of information is, at least partly, due to the difficulties involved in measuring intake of human milk. By conventional technique, infants are weighed before and after each feed, “test weighing”. This technique is obviously time consuming and may disturb the normal feeding pattern. These practical problems can be overcome by using a stable isotope technique, the deuterium-oxide turnover method, as the normal feeding pattern is not influenced and the total volume of human milk, consumed by the baby over a period of 14 days, is measured. In addition, information about whether the infant has consumed water from other sources than human milk (representing intake of complementary foods or fluids) and the lactating mother’s body composition can be assessed based on total body water content. Furthermore, stable isotope technique can be used to evaluate the influence of feeding patterns on body composition of children during the first 2 years of life to contribute new information on the link between infant feeding and later risk of ill health. The overall aim of this CRP is to contribute new information on infant feeding practices and the influence of early feeding on body composition of young children in different settings. This CRP has a strong focus on training and education and will contribute to capacity building in nuclear techniques in nutrition by training of PhD students in developing countries.