[Current aspects of infant nutrition].

It is still an important duty for pediatricians to inform parents about infant nutrition. An effort to insure successful breastfeeding in newborns is particularly necessary in order to avoid the introduction of foreign proteins, especially in high risk children. Allergy prevention is thus instigated early on. If necessary, a hypoallergenic milk may be used. Recently, there has been great concern that a high content of dioxine in breast milk exists, higher than in infant formulas. However, no evidence of toxicity has been noticed to date in breast fed children due to dioxine. Therefore, because of the many advantages, breast feeding should still be recommended for the first 4-6 months. In the last few years infant formulas have been adapted to simulate breastmilk by supplementation with taurine, carnitine and nucleotides. Most recently, Omega-3-fatty acids, which are important constituents of membrane phospholipids in the nervous system and the retina, have been added. In infant nutrition there is a trend nowadays toward unconventional forms of nutrition. An exclusive "lactoovo-vegetable" diet is able to meet all the requirements of a growing child. The critical components of a vegetarian diet are iron, calcium, vitamin B12 and vitamin D. These few examples demonstrate how important a nutrition-committee could be in elaborating basic information for the pediatrician, which would be useful in his daily work.