Human milk mineral intake and serum concentrations of calcium and phosphorus in newborn term infants: influence of intrauterine growth restriction

A prospective case–control study was performed to test the hypothesis that the milk Ca and P contents of term, small‐for‐gestational‐age (SGA) newborns’mothers differs from that of term, adequate‐for‐gestational‐age (AGA) newborns’mothers. We studied 71 pairs of mothers and newborns, divided into two groups: I (control): 41 pairs of mothers and term AGA newborns and I1 (study): 30 pairs of mothers and term SGA newborns. This latter group was subdivided according to type (symmetric: birthweight, length and head circumference < 10th percentile; asymmetric: birthweight < 10th percentile) and severity ( P3 – p= 0.001) and serum (p= 0.002) P levels and milk Ca (p= 0.002) levels increased during the first month of life. Regarding type and seventy of IUGR, milk P levels increased in the IUGR asymmetric and P3 – Conclusion: These findings suggest a tendency towards differences in human milk between AGA and SGA newborns regarding longitudinal variations.