ABSTRACT
Nutrition is important to the processes that are involved in normal lung development and maturation. Discussions of the etiologies of chronic lung disease (CLD) in premature infants, such as oxidant injury, barotrauma, infectious agents, and aberrant intrinsic processes, require inclusion of nutritional influences (1-3). Several reports have appeared in the literature concerning the influence of nutritional status and specific nutrients, including lipid, protein, vitamins, and trace minerals, on lung function, development, and repair (4-7). Despite credible evidence on the ability of nutrition to influence normal lung development and function and to effect a major influence on the tolerance of the lung to adverse extrinsic challenges, particularly oxidant injury, little definitive information exists on the influence of nutrition in modulating the outcome of CLD in the human infant. The purpose of this chapter is to present evidence supporting the hypothesis that nutrition, including specific nutrients, can modulate the outcome of CLD in human infants through alteration in susceptibility to oxygen toxicity. The chapter also identifies a number of relevant current controversies.
