Digestibility of starches in infants and children.

The digestibility of various starches has been studied in normal infants of different ages. During balance periods of 3 days, while the infants were receiving known dietary quantities of the starch to be tested, the fecal content of lactic acid, glucose, dextrins, and starch was measured. After the first year of life, children were able to absorb almost completely 170 gm/m2 of body surface of cooked wheat starch given in the form of biscuit or macaroni. A lower absorption coefficient was found for potato starch given in the form of biscuit. Cooked wheat, tapioca, corn, rice, and potato starch in amounts of 45 and 85 gm/m2/day, respectively, for 1- and 3-mo-old infants, were almost completely absorbed. In 1-mo-old infants larger amounts (110 gm/m2/day) of cooked rice starch were well tolerated; it should therefore be possible to provide a large part of the carbohydrate requirements of infants from the first month of life with cooked starches.