Serum triglycerides of breast milk-fed very-low-birth-weight infants

Normative triglyceride levels were obtained from eighty-five infants weighing < 1500 g. At least 80% of their nutritional intake was their own mother's breast milk. Triglyceride levels did not correlate with birth weight, gestational age, volume of milk fed, age in days, or use of milk fortifier. The 95th percentile triglyceride value was 2.5 mmol/L. Assuming that breast milk-fed infants have triglyceride in the normal range, the acceptable limit of triglyceride values in very-low-birth-weight infants receiving i.v. lipids could be revised upward to 2.5 mmol/L.