A Prospective, Randomized, Placebo-controlled Comparative Study of Amino Acid Supplementation in Lactation Insufficiency

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective Our study evaluates the clinical efficacy of intravenous (i/v) amino acids in the prevention of lactation insufficiency and improvement of neonatal weight gain. Design A prospective, randomized, open-label, placebo-controlled clinical trial is reported. Population or sample This study recruited 305 lactating mothers of age-group, 22–35 years. Methods Test group, n = 152, received i/v amino acid infusion, 500 mL, as study drug once daily for 4 days, and control group, n = 153, received normal saline as placebo, 500 mL od for 4 days. Main outcome measures We studied the efficacy and safety of i/v amino acids in the prevention of lactation insufficiency. We further evaluated the role of maternal amino acid supplementation in ameliorating physiological weight loss and overall neonatal weight gain. Results Lactation onset was reported in 86.3% of mothers in the amino acid group at day 0 as compared to 32.23% in the control group (p value < 0.001). Lactation was achieved by all the mothers in the study group by day 1 itself with two doses of i/v amino acids (p value < 0.001). An increase in neonatal weight was observed in the amino acid group, (2.900 ± 0.488, p value = 0.001) compared with the control group at 2 weeks (2.716 ± 0.484, p value = 0.001). Conclusion Maternal amino acid supplementation is proven to be both efficacious and safe in augmenting breast milk production, thereby preventing lactation insufficiency. It effectively prevented neonatal physiological weight loss at 2 weeks and promoted substantial weight gain over a period of a month after birth. How to cite this article Nagarathnamma R, Pooja Bhushan, Dutta T, Ezhil Arasan R. A Prospective, Randomized, Placebo-controlled Comparative Study of Amino Acid Supplementation in Lactation Insufficiency. J South Asian Feder Obst Gynae 2020;12(6):408–414.