Is Dietary Epidermal Growth Factor Absorbed by Premature Human Infants?

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Abstract
Urinary epidermal growth factor (EGF) levels from infants receiving breast milk, a rich source of the growth factor, were compared with the levels excreted by infants receiving bovine milk based formulae or total parenteral nutrition that contains very little EGF. Although at 5–10 days after birth there was no significant difference in the urinary EGF output by the three groups of infants, by 13–17 days the urinary EGF output by breastfed infants was higher than by infants fed the two EGF-poor diets. These latter results are consistent with the hypothesis that EGF crosses the gastrointestinal wall to enter the general circulation in the suckling infant.