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Respiratory quotient changes in full term newborn infants within 30 hours from birth before start of milk feeding
G Zoppi1, A Luciano, M Cinquetti
1Paediatrics, University of Verona, Major City Hospital of Verona, Italy.
Objective:
To evaluate substrate utilization in full-term newborn infants, fed every 3-4 h with glucose 10% solution, within 30 h from birth.
Design:
Random.
Setting:
Full term newborn infants at the Paediatric Division City Major Hospital, Chair of Paediatrics, Verona University.
Subjects:
Forty-six newborn infants, 24 females and 22 males of 39+/-2 weeks gestational age.
Methods:
Oxygen consumption (VO2) and CO2 production (VCO2) were measured. Permitting the computation of the respiratory quotient (RQ), which expresses substrate oxidation, at 6 and 30 h from birth. An indirect calorimeter (Deltratrac TMII-MBM-200-DATEX) was used to measure components of energy-balance.
Results:
Energy expenditure calculated at 6 h was 8.130 (+/-1.5757) kJ/kg/h. At 30 h the value changed to 8.858 (+/-1.483) kJ/kg/h. Statistical evaluation (t-student) showed a significant (P=0.000) variation in RQ values (6 h: RQ=0.94; 30 h: R=0.88).
Conclusions:
Respiratory quotient suggests an increase of energy derived from fat metabolism at 30 h from birth. Our data confirm that early breast feeding or formula milk feeding could represent a physiological approach to nutritional regimen of the newborn infant.