Book Abstract
The volume serves as an essential resource for pediatricians, nutritionists, public health professionals, and policymakers. It underscores the continuum of infant feeding?from exclusive milk diets to complementary feeding?anchored in evidence-based guidance to optimize growth, neurodevelopment, and lifelong health.
Early Nutrition: Evidence Based Approaches to Infant Feeding provides a rigorous, science-driven exploration of infant feeding practices from birth through the introduction of complementary foods. Framed on an integrative foundation of cellular nutrition, epidemiological evidence, and developmental outcomes, the book encompasses four key sections:
This book reviews the composition and bioactivity of human milk versus infant formula. It highlights breast milk?s unique nutrients?such as human milk oligosaccharides, immunoglobulins, hormones, and growth factors?and their roles in immunity, gut microbiome establishment, and metabolic programming. Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months is reinforced as the global gold standard to reduce infant mortality, gastrointestinal illness, and maternal health risks. Long-term benefits include lowered risk of obesity, hypertension, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and type 2 diabetes.
