Effect of Cutaneous Application of Sunflower-Seed Oil on Serum Triglyceride and Cholesterol Levels in Preterm Infants

Intravenous lipid solution (intralipid) provides essential substancesfor optimizing growth in premature infants, but haspotential side effects. we investigated the effects of dermalapplication of sunflower-seed oil (sfso) as a substitute forintralipid in preterm infants. this study comprised of 20 preterminfants, unable to be fed enterally divided into case andcontrol groups of equal numbers. sfso was rubbed over thewhole skin (1 gr/kg, three times daily) in case group only. serumtriglyceride and cholesterol levels were measured in bothgroups initially, and on the third and seventh day. the initialmean of serum triglyceride (tg) levels in the case and controlgroups were 42.6± 15.5mg/dl and 45.2±) 4.0 mg/dl respectively.tg level had a steady state increase at three (47%) andseven (80%) days of cutaneous application of sfso in thecasegroup, whereas, it decreased steadily in the control group.the respective initial mean cholesterol levels in the study andcontrol groups were 94.6 and 102.5 mg/dl which did not significantlychange during the course of the study in bothgroups. this study is indicating that although, deficiency ofessential fatty acids or their related clinical complicationswere not observed in either group, appl ication of sfso steadilyimproved the level of triglyceride in preterrn infants.therefore, dermal application of sunflower-seed oil is a noninvasiveand economic way, and it appears to be a suitablenon-complicated alternative for intralipid.