Oral zinc supplementation promoted enteral feeding and bodyweight growth in very-low-birthweight preterm neonate

Objective Very low birth weight preterm infant have lower zinc reserves than term infants, because~60% of fetal zinc is acquired during the third trimester of pregnancy.Whether oral zinc supplementation promote enteral feeding and bodyweight growth were explored in this clinic study.Methods This was a prospective, double-blinded, randomized, controlled study of very-lowbirthweight preterm neonate randomly allocated on the 10^th day of life to receive (zinc group, 6 mg/day) or not receive (control group) oral zinc supplementation between April 2017 and December 2017 in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The main endpoint was the days needed to attain 120 ml/kg·day enteral feeding and to commence addition of breast milk fortifier. Secondary outcome is bodyweight in every week.Results Compared to placebo control group, the days needed to commence addition of breast milk fortifier was reduced forabout 4 days in zinc group (95% CI:0.065-8.112, P=0.046), the days needed to attain 120 ml/kg·day enteral feeding was reduced forabout 4 days (95% CI:0.324-7.722, P=0.033). Furthermore, the bodyweight growth was about 71.45 g higher in zinc group (95% CI:6.73-136.17, P=0.030). No adverse events associated with oral supplementations containing zinc or not were observed.Conclusion Oral zinc supplementation promoted enteral feeding and bodyweight growth in very-low-birthweight preterm neonate.