[Protein metabolism and lipid balance in dietary treatment of acute enteritis in infants with a defined standardized oligopeptide diet].

The advantage of a standardized oligopeptide formula (Peptisorb päd) for dietary management of diarrhea was proved in 10 infants aged 1 to 10 months with body weights between 4000 and 8860 g. The nitrogen balance turned to normal already at day 3 to 4 of the treatment due to the rapid increase of food supply. Whole body protein parameters estimated by 15N yeast protein thermitase hydrolyzate as a tracer substance were already normalized at that time. Protein synthesis amounted to 5.0 +/- 1.5 g/kg/day, protein breakdown to 3.7 +/- 1.5 g/kg/day and net protein gain to 1.3 +/- 0.6 g/kg/day, resp. Reutilisation rate of endogenous nitrogen was found to be 83%. This correlates with the relatively high nitrogen supply of the oligopeptide diet in comparison to mother's milk feeding. Approximately 15% of the administered amount of total nitrogen were excreted in the feces in contrast to only 5.8% of the 15N tracer dose, indicating the higher losses of endogenous nitrogen due to enteritis. The absorption of the medium chain triglycerides from the diet was 97.5% at an average and thus extremely high.