[Hot Science] sn-2 palmitate may help improve crying and sleep patterns in infants

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Nursing / Care Paediatrics Healthy Eating & Hydration
[Hot Science] sn-2 palmitate may help improve crying and sleep patterns in infants

Latest: Results from a study found sn-2 palmitate supplemented in infant formula may help improve crying and sleep patterns in infants.

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This is the first randomized controlled study to investigate the effect of a formula containing SN2-palmitate in Chinese babies and demonstrate that adding SN2-palmitate to a formula already containing prebiotics has an additive effect on baby comfort.

Background

  • Infant sleep and excessive crying are of major parental concern, often being related to discomfort
  • Due to sn-2 palmitate’s potential benefits such as gastrointestinal health in infants, the nutrient’s effects on sleep and crying were explored

Methods

  • 171 healthy term Chinese infants (within 14 days from birth) were randomly assigned to the below feedings:
    • High sn-2 palmitate formula (43% palmitic acid esterified to the sn-2 position) (n = 57)
    • Control formula (13% palmitic acid esterified to the sn-2 position) (n = 57)
    • Breastfeeding (reference) (n = 57)
      Note: the only difference between the two formulas are the level of sn-2 palmitate
  • Crying and sleep patterns of the different groups were analysed at different time points

Key Findings

  • There were no significant differences observed in the growth or feed consumption between the groups
  • Differences in crying and sleep characteristics are summarized below:
Feeding Crying episodes Duration of crying
(min in 72 hrs)		 Sleep duration
during 24 hrs (hrs)
At 6
weeks		 At 12
weeks		 At 6
weeks		 At 12
weeks		 At 6
weeks		 At 12
weeks
High sn-2 formula 2.0 1.0 25.1 11.2 15.4# 14.7#
Control formula 3.6* 2.2* 41.3* 21.2* 14.5 13.7
Breast-fed 2.1 1.0 19.4 7.5 13.6 14.2

*Crying episodes and duration in control group were significantly higher than high sn-2 and breast-fed groups (p < 0.05), while there were no significant differences between the latter two  
#High sn-2 group had significantly longer sleep duration, as compared with control and breast-fed groups (p < 0.05)
 

Conclusion

  • sn-2 palmitate supplemented in formula was able to improve crying and sleep patterns in the first few weeks of life, indicating the nutrient’s potential to improve the well-being of formula-fed infants and the quality of life of their parents

Link to Article

 

Reference

Bar-Yoseph F, Lifshitz Y, Cohen T, Malard P, Li Z, Cui H, Zhang A, Wu JL, Xu C. SN2-palmitate improves crying and sleep in infants fed formula with prebiotics: A double-blind randomized clinical trial. Clinics Mother Child Health. 2017;14:2.

WYE-EM-155-JUL-17