Healthy weight gain in infants
"Growth is a sign of nutritional intake and development, an insight into health," says Jillian Trabulsi, associate professor of nutrition and a registered dietitian. "Infant nutrition is a critical starting point." With nearly 10 percent of infants considered "high weight for length," Trabulsi is interested in how to help all infants achieve a healthy weight as they enter childhood, starting with their intake during those first few months of life. While the benefits of breastfeeding are well known -- breastfed babies tend to be better protected against rapid weight gain and obesity, among other things -- the reality is that 60 percent of American infants are exposed to infant formula by four months of age either as a sole source of nutrition or in combination with breastmilk. Trabulsi's research therefore examines infant formula and how their various compositions affect energy balance, weight gain and growth. Already, she and her collaborator, ...