[Nutrition in infant enteritis]

The effects of two different formulas in the treatment of acute diarrhea were tested in a prospective study with 40 infants. The formulas differ in content of lactose, fructose, starch, sodium and potassium. Both groups reached normal food intake at the same time and could be discharged from clinical observation. The patients were divided into two groups with equal degrees of diarrhea. During nutrition with lactose-reduced formula, body-weight was rising and the water-binding capacity of chymus seemed to be better. From significant higher percentages of prae-beta-liproproteins in electrophoresis better endogenous metabolic efficiency could be derived. Phospholipids were also significantly increased when lactose-reduced formula was given. The comparative formula led, due to the higher content of potassium to significantly higher serum levels. The results of this investigation indicate, that reduction of lactose in the formula for infants with diarrhea has some advantages. Whether more effectiveness of formulas in diarrhea could be expected from addition of medium chain triglycerides (Gracey et al. 1970, Schreier und Porath 1971) requires further investigations.