[Medium chain triglycerides in the feeding of praemature infants. Fat balance studies (author's transl)].

18 72-H Fat balance studies were performed in 9 premature infants with birthweights between 1650 and 2400 gm. At the age of two and three weeks, they received alternatively, one of two formulas identical in composition except for the type of fat: 30% of the vegetable fat in the first formula had been substituted by medium chain triglycerides (MCT) in the second formula. On the MCT-containing formula, the fat absorption significantly improved in the same infants as compared to their fat absorption capacity on the vegetable fat formula. The absorption of individual fatty acids, calculated by gaschromatographic analysis of pooled stool samples, also improved for most of the fatty acids with the MCT-formula. There were no adverse changes in blood glucose concentrations or in acidbase status of the infants when being fed the MCT-containing formula.