[Essential fatty acids in infant nutrition].

An extensive clinical study is being made to evaluate the role of the essential fatty acids in infant feeding. After care ful explanation of the nature of the study, the mothers of several hundred infants have chosen to participate. The chief criteria of selection are that the parents seem anxious to co operate and that the infants are normal neonates. The individ ual subjects include children of physicians, medical students as well as those seen in the Well Baby Clinics. As an inte gral part of the study the healthy young infants are given one of 5 different milk mixtures which vary in their content of fat and linoleic acid. One group received a milk mixture practically devoid of fat and because of the unsatisfactory progress of a number of the infants, this phase of the study has been terminated. The findings seem worthy of presenta tion at this time.