Evidence of Oxidative Stress in Full-Term Healthy Infants

We hypothesized that early infancy would be a time of oxidative stress due to the difficulty of adapting to ambient oxygen. Therefore, we measured levels of products of lipid peroxidation (F2-isoprostanes), antioxidant enzyme activity (catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD)), and ability to resist oxidative stress (ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP)) in full-term infants (38–42 wk) fed human milk from birth. Seventy-seven infants were followed at 1, 3.5, 6, and 12 mo of age. F2-isoprostanes in plasma declined significantly (p < 0.05) from 1 to 6 mo (160 ± 43; 90 ± 33; 41 ± 27 pg/mL (mean ± SD)). FRAP values (775 ± 196, 723 ± 133, 697 ± 126, 669 ± 145 μM) 1, 3.5, 6, and 12, respectively) declined (p = 0.06) from 1 to 3.5 mo and from 3.5 to 6 mo of age. RBC-SOD (2.7 ± 2, 3.2 ± 2.8, 2.1 ± 1.8, 2.5 ± 1.8 U, 1, 3.5, 6, 12 mo, respectively) declined from 3.5 to 6 mo. RBC-CAT (76 ± 23, 94 ± 28, 81 ± 22, 85 ± 31 U, 1, 3.5, 6, 12 mo, respectively) also declined between 3.5 and 6 mo, after a significant increase between 1 and 3.5 mo. These data suggest that the human infant is under oxidative stress early in infancy and further study may be warranted to assess the potential benefits of antioxidant supplementation for either the mother or the infant.