[Principal aspects of infant nutrition 100 years ago and today]

The Department of Pediatrics of the University was established in 1924 in the city of Pécs. Paul Heim (1875–1929), one of the most distinguished personalities of Hungarian pediatrics, was the first head of the department. Both from the scientific and the practical point of view, he was deeply interested in the questions of infant feeding. His investigations were focused on the role of macronutrients of human milk and cow’s milk in infant nutrition; results of his research were published in German in the leading journals of contemporary pediatrics. Today not macronutrients, but several biologically active compounds stand in the focus of infant nutrition research. Whereas probiotics and prebiotics may exert beneficial effects via influencing the bacterial composition of infantile stool, the most important omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid, docosahexaenoic acid may act beneficially as component of various lipids and lipid structures. During the last three decades, about 150 to 200 randomized controlled trials investigated the effect of adding probiotics, prebiotics or docosahexaenoic acid to infant formula (196, 148 and 153, respectively). No unequivocal recommendations were made on adding or not adding probiotics or prebiotics to infant formula. In contrast, mandatory supplementation of docosahexaenoic acid to the fatty acid composition of infant formula was recommended, at least within the European Union. The differences in recommendations may partly originate from docosahexaenoic acid being better characterized and more homogenous than probiotics and prebiotics. The 100th anniversary of the Department of Pediatrics, University of Pécs may allow the conclusion to be drawn that in our institution infant nutrition was successfully scientifically researched and clinically practiced both 100 years ago and during the last few decades. Orv Hetil. 2024; 165(22): 843–850.