Nutrition Publications

Preterm infants may require more care compared to their full-term counterparts. The Nest 51 reviews nutrition as a strategy for prevention of preterm births, and as a means for premature infants to cope with developmental challenges. This edition of The Nest delves deeper into the updated scientific findings, featuring specific nutrients and its possible roles in preterm birth prevention and support.

There are many factors to consider in child development and what is considered healthy in terms of growth, the biggest influence of which is nutrition. However, with the highly varied and complex mechanisms of nutrients and the bodily systems, there is still a lot to be understood in this regard. With that, this yearbook from the Nutrition and Growth aims to collate studies related to research on nutrients and the endocrine system, and the diagnoses and its health implications.

From the tremendous global research efforts aimed at understanding mechanisms leading to growth failure, optimized nutrition for child growth, and diets to combat undernutrition and malnutrition, specialists have selected the peer-reviewed manuscripts from July 2021 to June 2022 that they considered significantly contributed to the wealth of knowledge in this field. Learn more from these studies and the annotations of the experts in this 2023 Nutrition and Growth Yearbook.

The NNI Symposium at the N&G Congress focused on Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs), the science behind it and the roles it plays in gut microbiome development which contributes to the short and long-term health of an infant.

In preterm born infants, growth is one of the biggest safety parameters, where the Fenton Growth charts are the world-wide standard. However, human growth is not constant through gestation and early infancy. Thus the quoted 15g/kg/d may work for gestational age that is less than 29 weeks, while infants born between 29 to 33 weeks are not found on the chart, and infants born 33 weeks and above grow less than 15g/kg/d. View full recommendations in this abstract.

Breastmilk varies in terms of nutritional content. Thus, the macronutrient concentration of breastmilk were evaluated in a prospective, observational study involving 41 exclusively breastfeeding Filipino mothers between 21 days to 4 months of breastfeeding. This study details the changes observed in early lactation, especially given its evolution to mature milk and its adaptive nature.

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are crucial for infant growth and development, and overall health. With this the safety and tolerance of these HMOs as a supplement for infant formula was tested in infants from birth to 15 months, taking into account anthropometry, stooling pattern, GI tolerance and adverse events.

Formula-fed infants face the challenge of catching up to the healthy gut microbiota trajectory as compared to the standard of breastfed babies. With human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) being known drivers of microbiome development, and its absence in the usual infant formula, infant and toddler formulas were supplemented with this blend of HMOs to support the gut microbiome towards the desired trajectory.

As the gut microbiome changes and matures in infancy, the development of age-appropriate microbiome trajectory correlates with the diet and subsequently the health of the infant. Thus, the typical patterns of gut development of infants in Bangladesh, which bacteria populates the microbiome, and how it links to food intake and health were studied further.

The 97th NNI Workshop, “Intersections of Nutrition: Retracing Yesterday, Redefining Tomorrow” held on June 2022 discussed how far pediatric nutrition research has come and how so many of these novel discoveries have become a part of our everyday essentials. But aside from this, it was also a call to further where we can take this new knowledge and how this can be applied in every HCP’s practice. This booklet provides new insights from global experts on nutrition and epigenetics, the gut microbiota, human milk, metabolic health of children, malnutrition and globalization, and the changes in children’s diets.

It’s now emerging that our gut microbiota could be crucial for improving brain health during aging! Researchers from Nestlé, Harvard Medical School and ETH Zürich highlight in the newest Gut Microbiome edition the current knowledge on the link between the gut microbiota and the brain during aging.

The researchers assess the existing evidence on the effects of diet on the gut microbiota, bringing to light the potential for gut microbiota-based nutritional interventions during aging to support and promote brain health.

In the last three years, the global pandemic has amplified lifestyle and nutritional shifts of families everywhere. While this rapid change has led to prioritization of health and wellbeing, new health challenges also came about.

Middle childhood and early adolescence have received disproportionately low levels of scientific attention relative to other life stages, especially as related to nutrition and health. This review highlights the specificities of growth and development in school age, with a focus on middle childhood and early adolescence (5 years–15 years of age, for the purposes of this review), the role of nutrition, the short- and long-term consequences of inadequate nutrition, and the current global status of nutrition in this age group.

At the 2022 58th EASD Annual Meeting held in Stockholm, Sweden, Nestlé Nutrition Institute and Nestlé
Health Science hosted the Symposium: “Implications of Elevated Postprandial Glucose and Nutritional
Approaches for Postprandial Glucose Management with a Focus on Whey Proteins” on September 19,
2022. The speakers were Dr. John Sievenpiper from the University of Toronto, Canada and Dr. Bo Ahrén
from Lund University, Sweden. Dr. Sievenpiper discussed the pathophysiology and clinical implications
of postprandial hyperglycemia, nonpharmacological approaches for PPG management, and how it may
impact CV/vascular risk, insulin resistance, and other co-morbidities with illustrations. Dr. Ahrén
discussed the benefits of using whey protein for PPG management as well as novel data for how whey
proteins and branched chain amino acids may influence postprandial glucose management.

Preterm babies need special care when parents take them home from the hospital as there are special requirements for feeding and growth, and adverse health outcomes may possibly occur. Join us in celebrating this year's World Prematurity Day with these important points to guide parents on the care of premature babies.

Food allergies are a growing health epidemic, with population-based surveys in the USA estimating that up to 8% of children and 11% of adults are now living with a food allergy. During the 1990s and early 2000s, international guidelines recommended the avoidance of commonly problematic food during infancy due to the belief that early introduction of these foods may increase the risk of allergies. However, beginning with the publication of the LEAP trial in 2015,3 a paradigm shift in the understanding of food allergy prevention has occurred. Clinical guidelines now generally recommend the introduction of potentially allergenic food after 4–6 months of exclusive breastfeeding. This symposium occurred during the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) Congress, 2022 and discussed early allergen introduction and food allergy prevention.

At this year’s 39th International Symposium on Diabetes and Nutrition, held in Anavyssos, Greece, Nestlé Health Science sponsored a series of presentations and plenary lectures with a focus on the effects of weight loss, micronutrients, nutritional supplements, and alternative dietary patterns in the prevention and management of Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular risk reduction.

The world has gone through immense and rapid changes, and this has affected how we nourish and care for our children. While nutrition has improved overall, new challenges continue to arise, like the hike in childhood obesity, overlapping nutrition problems, and
climate change that threatens food security. These issues, and possible interventions, such as support for breastfeeding and a collaborative approach in different sectors are discussed more thoroughly in this edition of Annales.

CoMiSSTM is a clinical tool developed to increase awareness among healthcare professionals (HCP) of possible symptoms of cow's milk allergy (CMA) in infants. During this symposium, leading experts in the field of paediatric gastroenterology, allergy, and nutrition highlighted how CoMiSSTM can facilitate awareness of CMA and support HCPs in improving the patient journey from symptom presentation to diagnosis.

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are structurally diverse oligosaccharides present in breast milk, supporting the development of the gut microbiota and immune system. Previously, 2-HMO (2’fucosyllactose, lacto-N-neotetraose) compared to control formula feeding was associated with reduced risk of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), in part linked to lower acetate and higher bifidobacteria proportions. Here, our objective was to gain further insight into additional molecular pathways linking the 2-HMO formula feeding and LRTI mitigation.

New allergy triggers, such as peanuts are becoming relevant. Recent research confirms that early tolerance formation can significantly reduce the risk of peanut contact. On the other hand, studies show that supplementation with human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) may reduce the risk of cow's milk allergy. Even for therapy, such supplementation with HMO is promising. In this publication you will get update on current state of allergy research.