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Relationships between IGF-I and weight Z score, BMI, tricipital skin-fold thickness, type of feeding in healthy infants in the first 5 months of life.

Savino F, Nanni GE, Maccario S, Oggero R, Mussa GC

Department of Paediatrics, University of Turin, Regina Margherita Hospital, Turin, Italy. francesco.savino@unito.it

AIM: To determine the concentration of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) in exclusively breast-fed (BF) and formula-fed (FF) infants in the first 5 months of life and to study the relationship between the IGF-I level and Z score for weight, body mass index (BMI) and tricipital skin-fold thickness. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study in order to evaluate serum IGF-I in 97 age-matched healthy term infants: 50 FF and 47 BF. RESULTS: FF infants showed higher values of IGF-I (38.9 +/- 12 ng/ml) when compared to BF infants (26.7 +/- 11.6 ng/ml; p < 0.05). A positive correlation was found between IGF-I values and Z score for weight (p < 0.001), BMI (p = 0.014), tricipital skin-fold thickness (p = 0.043) and age (p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: These results show that the IGF-I serum concentration is higher in FF infants. The observed association between IGF-I and Z score for weight, BMI, tricipital skin-fold thickness confirms the effect of different infant feeding on body size.

Published 27 May 2005 in Ann Nutr Metab, 49(2): 83-7.
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