1 The Statler Research Laboratories of The Children's Hospital of Buffalo and the Department of Pediatrics, The University of Buffalo School of Medicine, Buffalo.
With added carbohydrate in the formula during these short balance periods, there resulted a better weight gain, while on both a constant nitrogen intake and with a 19% reduction in dietary protein intake.
Nitrogen retention in these premature infants was greater both when the nitrogen intake was greater and when the total calories, as carbohydrates, were greater. Similar changes occurred in sodium and potassium retentions.
Infants fed "added carbohydrate" had a lower BUN level and a decreased urinary excretion of urea, sodium and potassium. Thus the kidney was presented with a lower total osmolar load for excretion.
The urine concentration on the various diets is a simple reflection of the load demanding excretion and the available expendable water. In the presence of a limited renal concentrating capacity, as is seen in the premature infant, and with suboptimal fluid intakes, a diet offering a smaller load for renal excretion would seem desirable.
Submitted on August 14, 1953