MILK AS A FOOD FOE INFANTS. 459 



The same cannot be said of cow's milk, owing to a difference in 

 the proteins ; the action of rennet, one of the enzymes of the 

 stomach, on cow's milk results in the formation of clots of curd, 

 which are not digested readily. If the fat has been partially 

 churned in the milk, this also is not digested perfectly. 



Experiments have shown that children do not derive the 

 most benefit from milk unless the anabolic ratio approximates 

 to 2:4:1, and the constituents are in such a form that they 

 are as finely divided as possible in the stomach. 



Milk as a Food for Infants Artificial Human Milk. Many 

 preparations of artificial human milk, or humanised milk, are 

 made ; they correspond in composition more or less exactly 

 with human milk. The condition of the proteins necessary to 

 produce a fine state of division in the stomach is attained 



(1) By simple dilution with water, and addition of fat and sugar. 



(2) By removal of casein, and addition of fat and sugar. 



(3) By acting on the milk with a proteolytic enzyme i.e., peptonising 

 it, and addition of fat and sugar. 



(4) By adding a preparation containing diastase and diluting it, and 

 adding fat and sugar. 



(5) The fine division of the proteins is aided by the presence of a colloid, 

 such as the small proportion of starch in barley water. 



A milk for infants in powder form, Glaxo, contains added 

 milk-sugar. The composition is 



Water. Fat. Proteins. Milk-Sugar. Ash. 



2-90 27-19 23-75 40-43 5-64 



It dissolves well in water to form an excellent milk food. 



Various sugars are used, milk-sugar naturally being the most 

 universally adopted ; while cane-sugar, and maltose, and other 

 carbohydrates, resulting from the diastatic conversion of starch 

 are added. 



The artificial feeding of children is to a large extent empirical. 

 There is strong reason to believe that few of the constituents of 

 cow's milk are identical with those of human milk, though closely 

 analogous ; yet it has been found that cow's milk suitably 

 modified is an excellent food. 



Again, it is found that human milk decreases in proteins as 

 lactation advances. The best results have been obtained in 

 artificial feeding by an exact reversal of this rule. 



The curdling of milk by rennet is prevented by sodium citrate 

 and other alkaline salts of weak acids ; it is for this reason used 

 as an addition to milk for infant feeding to prevent the formation 

 of a curd in the child's stomach. Sodium citrate was first pro- 

 posed in this connection by Arthus in 1893, and it has been 



