Lipid-based nutrient supplements do not decrease breast milk intake of Malawian infants.

BACKGROUND: The potential for small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) to promote growth and development after 6 mo of age is currently being investigated. Because infants self-regulate energy intake, consumption of LNS may reduce breast milk intake and potentially decrease the beneficial effects of breast milk.

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to test the hypothesis that the breast milk intake of 9- to 10-mo-old rural Malawian infants receiving LNS would not be lower than that of infants receiving no supplementation.

DESIGN: This was a substudy of the International Lipid-based Nutrient Supplements (iLiNS) DOSE trial, in which 6-mo-old infants were randomly assigned to receive 10, 20, or 40 g LNS/d containing 56, 117, or 241 kcal/d, respectively, or no LNS until 18 mo of age. A subset was randomly selected to estimate breast milk intake at 9-10 mo of age with the dose-to-mother deuterium oxide dilution method. The noninferiority margin was <10% of total energy requirements.

RESULTS: Baseline characteristics (n = 376) were similar across groups. The mean (± SD) daily breast milk intake of unsupplemented infants was 730 ± 226 g. The differences (95% CIs) in mean intake of infants provided with 10, 20, or 40 g LNS/d, compared with controls, were +62 (-18, +143), +30 (-40, +99), and +2 (-68, +72) g/d, respectively. Non-breast milk oral water intake did not differ by group (P = 0.39) and was inversely (r = -0.22, P < 0.01) associated with breast milk intake.

CONCLUSION: In this rural Malawian population, breast milk intake at 9-10 mo of age was not reduced by supplementation with complementary foods with 10-40 g LNS/d.