Evaluation of Meat in the Infant Diet

Abstract

A commercially prepared lean meat was fed to young infants as a supplement to a diet already adequate in all food factors. In those infants first fed meat under 2 months of age, there was improvement in physical growth as determined by weight and height measurements. The same group demonstrated an improvement in hemoglobin levels; the elimination of the physiologic drop in total protein levels of the serum, with a prompt sustained rise in values, the greater part of which was composed of the globulin fraction. In those infants first fed meat after 2 months of age, there was a slight improvement in average weight gain, but no significant difference was noted in other body measurements, total protein, albumin or globulin fractions, or hemoglobin levels. Illness rates for the two years of the study demonstrated a 40% lower morbidity rate in the meat-fed group as compared to the control group. In striving for the optimum in infant nutrition protein requirements should be evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively.