The Acidity of the Gastric Contents of Infants

Gastric acidity during the first year of life

“…As stated in a preliminary report upon the behaviour of the gastric acidity during the first week of life (Miller, 1941), free hydrochloric acid was detected in all but twelve per cent. of the fifty healthy breast-fed infants whose gastric contents were examined daily during this period.…”

“…In addition histological examination of mature infants' stomachs has shown that they may also have a primitive gastric mucosa, of a type usually found in newborn infants weighing three pounds (Scott, 1925;Miller, 1941). Bauer (1921) is also a strong supporter of this theory.…”

Gastric Acidity: Relation to Various Factors Such as Age and Physical Fitness

“…However, other factors, such as age, enter into the question and the matter will be discussed below more in detail. Marriott and Davidson (6), and Davison (7), relatively few infants secrete enough HCl to give the red reaction with dimethyl amido-azobenzene. Between the ages of 15 and 20 years, however, abundant acid is usually present although even among young people approximately 5 per cent fail to show free HCl, when tested with the fractional gruel meal.…”

Translating neonatal microbiome science into commercial innovation: metabolism of human milk oligosaccharides as a basis for probiotic efficacy in breast-fed infants

“…A century ago researchers linked the acid produced in the breast-fed infant colon to preservation of health status and, when absent, its association with disease. As stated by Marriott and Davidson in 1923 12 …”