OBJECTIVE: To review the recent medical literature on nutrition of extremely low birth weight infants, focusing on nutritional disorders 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 short-term 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 long-term undesirable consequences.
Nutrition; human milk; prematurity; parenteral nutrition; enteral nutrition; nutritional programming