Randomised trial of early diet in preterm babies and later intelligence quotient

Abstract

Preterm infants are vulnerable to suboptimal early nutrition in terms of their cognitive performance--notably, language based skills--at 7 1/2 - 8 years, when cognitive scores are highly predictive of adult ones. Our data on cerebral palsy generate a new hypothesis that suboptimal nutritional management during a critical or plastic early period of rapid brain growth could impair functional compensation in those sustaining an earlier brain insult. Cognitive function, notably in males, may be permanently impaired by suboptimal neonatal nutrition.