Duodenal bile acid conjugation patterns and dietary sulphur amino acids in the newborn.

Patterns of glycine and taurine conjugation of bile acids in duodenal juice have been studied in 20 low birth weight babies at 12 and 22 days of age. They were fed from birth on one of three feeds containing different amounts of taurine and its precursors, cysteine and methionone. Taurine conjugation predominated in those fed on human milk throughout the first three weeks of life. In those fed on SMA or S26 infant feeding formulae, both of which contain very little taurine, concentrations of glycine conjugates were found to exceed those of taurine conjugates by the 12th day. The low glycine-taurine conjugate ratios previously described in newborn babies are, therefore, probably related to the taurine content of the milk which they received. Glycine-taurine conjugate ratios less than 1.0 occur in breast fed infants during the first three weeks of life.