Nutrition support for infants and children at risk

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Adequate nutrition is crucial during infancy and childhood, as even brief periods of malnutrition can have lasting impacts on growth, development, and health in adulthood. This publication focuses on high-risk scenarios for malnutrition, including atopic diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, and preterm delivery. Pediatric allergists must understand the mechanisms regulating IgE responses to food proteins, which may serve as early indicators of the atopic march. While breastfeeding has limited effects on this march, alternative strategies are necessary to modulate infant immune responses, such as using hypoallergenic formulas or incorporating probiotics and prebiotics into infant nutrition. The second part of the text examines the functional properties of nutrition concerning gastrointestinal diseases and the resulting chronic alterations in gastrointestinal function. It discusses the molecular basis of various conditions, the primary causes of chronic enteropathy, and the nutritional strategies, including parenteral and enteral nutrition, to address these issues. As smaller, more immature infants survive, their nutritional needs become increasingly complex, and one formula may not suffice. There is a lack of sensitive and precise measures for assessing nutritional outcomes, leading to growth retardation in very-low-birth-weight infants at discharge. The final section focuses on strategies to enhance growth in these high-ris