Cortical responses to speech sounds in 3- and 6-month-old infants fed breast milk, milk formula, or soy formula.

Controversy exists about the safety of soy formula, with the main concern relating to potential estrogenic effects of soy protein. Since estrogens influence early brain development, we compared behavioral development and cortical responses (event-related potentials; ERPs) to speech sounds in infants fed either breast milk or formula (milk- or soy-based). Across-groups ERP measures were generally similar and behavioral measures were within normal ranges, suggesting no important influences of soy formula on behavioral development and brain function during the study period.

Early infant diet and the omega 3 fatty acid DHA: effects on resting cardiovascular activity and behavioral development during the first half-year of life.

This investigation evaluated variations in resting heart rate (HR) measures during the first half year of life in healthy, full-term infants who were either breast-fed (BF), or fed formula with (milk-based: MF; soy-based: SF) or without (soy-based: SF(-)) commercially supplemented DHA (decosahexaenoic acid). In infants fed the DHA-deficient diet, higher HR and lower values for heart rate variability measures were observed, indicating decreased parasympathetic tone in this group. These effects, appearing at 4 months and continuing for the remainder of the study period, are consistent with suggestions that the 3-5-month postnatal interval may be an important period in the development of cardiovascular regulation.

Growth status related to brain responses, nutrition, home environment, and behavior in infants and toddlers.

To investigate whether growth status in infants and toddlers affects processes involved in speech perception and discrimination, cortical event-related potentials (ERPs) to consonant-vowel syllables were recorded from 48 healthy babies: 26 low in growth status (LGS, < 25 th percentile in growth measures) and from 22 normal in growth status (NGS, 25t--75 th percentile in growth measures). Food records indicated no significant differences in the amounts of various nutrients consumed in the two groups, but LGS babies consumed slightly more of most nutrients than NGS babies. In response to speech stimuli (either /pa/ or /ba/ presented with 20 and 80% randomized occurrence), brain ERPs showed two prominent post-stimulus components: a large positive wave peaking at about 484 msec and a negative but positive going slow wave (SW) between 867 and 1199 msec.

Effects of breast milk and milk formula diets on synthesized speech sound-induced event-related potentials in 3- and 6-month-old infants.

Effects of breast milk and milk formula supplemented with docosahexaenoic acid and arachidonic acid on speech processing were investigated by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) to synthesized /pa/ and /ba/ (oddball paradigm, 80%:20%) at 3 and 6 months of age. Behavioral assessment was also obtained. A major positive component (P200) was elicited by both types of sounds.

The influence of infant diet on early developmental changes in processing human voice speech stimuli: ERP variations in breast and milk formula-fed infants at 3 and 6 months after birth.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if processing of language stimuli during the first half year of life in breast-fed infants differs from that of formula-fed infants. This question was addressed by examining the brain event-related potentials of healthy infants receiving breast milk (n = 15) or milk-based formula (n = 18) recorded in response to consonant vowel syllables presented in an oddball paradigm. The same infants were studied when they were 3-months and 6-months-old.