Book Review

Neonatal Nutrition and Metabolism

N Engl J Med 2007; 356:759February 15, 2007

Article

Neonatal Nutrition and Metabolism
Second edition. Edited by Patti J. Thureen and William W. Hay, Jr. 688 pp., illustrated. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2006. $300. ISBN: 978-0-521-82455-2

Patti Thureen and William Hay have assembled an outstanding group of experts in neonatal nutrition, and with these contributors they have put together an excellent review of the current state of knowledge regarding fetal and neonatal nutrition. After a brief review of what is known about the influence of maternal nutrition on the embryo, the book offers a wonderful discussion of the regulation and acquisition of nutrients by the fetus. The nutrition management of the preterm infant is also discussed in great detail. Energy needs, thermal regulation, composition of breast milk, and gut development are a few of the topics of interest.

The book is well organized, the chapters are well referenced, and the materials are up to date. The clinical material is well supported by experimental scientific evidence, but the reader is not overwhelmed by the data or the authors' expertise. The numerous references that are provided will allow avid students to expand their knowledge as they wish. Individual nutritional and metabolic categories are discussed separately, which makes reading and comprehension easy.

The fundamentals of neonatal nutrition are presented in the first part of the book in chapters on topics such as water and electrolyte balance, brain development, skeletal development, the roles of iron and trace minerals, and the metabolism of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Other chapters discuss the nutritional management of infants with abnormal conditions, including gastroesophageal reflux, abnormalities of carbohydrate metabolism, necrotizing enterocolitis, the short-bowel syndrome, and heart disease. However, these chapters lack the empirical and experimental depth of the earlier chapters.

The final three chapters address the later needs of the preterm and normal infant. It is refreshing to see attention paid to life after the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Several large academic centers have devoted considerable resources to following their NICU “grads.” This practice has greatly expanded our knowledge of the longer-term outcomes for these patients, who begin life in need of such exhaustive care.

I highly recommend this book to all who care for both preterm and ill full-term infants. In an era in which the teaching of nutrition science to medical students, hospital staff, and even fellows is sorely lacking, this book offers a needed window into the world of infant nutrition. A new group of interested investigators and clinicians will find the material informative and the field in need of much more work.

Wallace F. Berman, M.D.
Duke University, Durham, NC 27710
wallace.berman@duke.edu