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  • Original Article
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Relationship between birth weight and urea kinetics in children

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 60, pages 197–202 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

To explore the effect of birth weight on urea kinetics in young healthy children.

Design:

Observational study.

Setting:

Tertiary center for treatment of malnutrition.

Subjects:

A total of 17 male children, 6–24 months old, who had recovered from malnutrition.

Interventions:

Urea kinetics were measured using stable isotope methodology with [15N15N]-urea over 36 h.

Results:

Birth weight was negatively related to urea hydrolysis after controlling for the intake of protein (adjusted R2=0.91, P=0.001) and separately for energy intake (adjusted R2=0.95, P=0.001), age (adjusted R2=0.90, P=0.001) and rate of weight gain (adjusted R2=0.91, P=0.001). There was a tendency for higher urea production in the children with lower birth weight after controlling for nitrogen intake (adjusted R2=0.93, P=0.099), and separately for age (adjusted R2=0.94, P=0.06) and rate of weight gain (adjusted (R2=0.92, P=0.096). Urea excretion was not significantly related to birth weight.

Conclusions:

The salvaging of urea nitrogen following urea hydrolysis contributed significantly more to the nitrogen economy in children with lower birth weight compared to those with higher birth weight. This may be as a result of reductive adaptation in the children with lower birth weight as a consequence of inappropriate prenatal nutrition and growth.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a grant from the Nestlé Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tropical Medicine Research Institute, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica

    A V Badaloo, M Reid, M Boyne & T Forrester

  2. Institute of Human Nutrition, University Southampton, Southampton, UK

    A A Jackson

Authors
  1. A V Badaloo
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  2. M Reid
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  3. M Boyne
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  4. A A Jackson
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  5. T Forrester
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to T Forrester.

Additional information

Guarantors: A Badaloo and T Forrester.

Contributors: TEF had the idea for this investigation. AAJ, TEF, AVB and MB directed the study design. All authors were involved in conducting the studies, data analysis and writing the report.

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Badaloo, A., Reid, M., Boyne, M. et al. Relationship between birth weight and urea kinetics in children. Eur J Clin Nutr 60, 197–202 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602288

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