Gastric Bioelectrical Impedance in breast-fed colicky and no colicky infants.

Infantile colic can have different causes, including allergic problems such as cow's milk protein intolerance as well as motility disorders. Altered gastric myoelectric activity has been described in cow's milk allergic infants, as a result of Ig E hypersensitivity and degranulation of mucosal mast-cells. The latter occurs close to the gastric nerve fibers, thus showing a link among cellular immune involvement and nervous system. Gastric bioelectrical impedance is an experimental method that evaluates gastric emptying by measuring tissue impedance variations during the flux of a small electric alternating current (50 kHz). AIM: evaluating gastric emptying through the gastric impedance in breast-fed colicky and non colicky infants. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that in breast-fed colicky infants gastric emptying is faster than in non colicky infants. This data support the hypothesis of allergic disease as well as gut motility's alteration at the origins of infantile colic.