The influence of dietary nucleotides on erythrocyte membrane fatty acids and plasma lipids in preterm infants

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate whether a regular formula for premature infants supplemented with nucleotides has any influence on plasma lipids and erythrocyte membrane fatty acids. Methods: Preterm infants fed either human milk supplemented with human milk protein (HM, n= 14), nucleotide‐supplemented preterm formula (NF, n= 13), or a regular preterm formula (F, n= 13) were included in the study. The NF was supplemented with 18.2 mg cytidine monophosphate/1 (CMP), 7.0 mg uridine monophosphate/1 (UMP), 6.4mg adenosine monophosphate/1 (AMP), 3.0mg inosine monophosphate/1 (IMP) and 3.0 mg guanosine monophosphate/1 (GMP). Results: There were significantly higher concentrations of triglycerides (TG) in infants fed NF compared to those fed F (191.42 ± 79.58 vs 108.21 ± 43.73, p< 0.001, mean ± SD lipid concentrations, mg/100ml plasma). Infants fed F had significantly lower concentrations of total cholesterol (94.34 ± 11.71 vs 115.69 ± 39.29, p< 0.01) and TG in plasma (108.21 ± 43.73 vs 172.27 ± 68.19, p< 0.001, mean ± SD lipid concentrations, mg/100ml plasma) when compared to HM‐fed infants. There were no significant differences in any of the erythrocyte membrane fatty acids and total long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC‐PUFA) between NF and F during the study period (6 weeks). Furthermore, total LC‐PUFA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) concentrations in red blood cell were not significantly different when infants fed NF were compared to those fed HM. In contrast, however, infants fed F had significantly lower concentrations of total n‐3 LC‐PUFA (p< 0.01) and DHA (p< 0.01) than those found in HM‐fed infants. Conclusions: These results do not suggest an effect of nucleotides on the red blood cell LC‐PUFA profile in preterm infants. However, the nucleotides may increase the concentrations of triglycerides in plasma.