The Munich team works in the Dr. von Hauner Childrens’ Hospital, which is part of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University. Prof. Dr. Berthold Koletzko, the team leader, is also Head of the Division of Metabolic Disorders and Nutrition at the hospital.

For research and clinical diagnosis a variety of stable isotope tracer methods have been developed and implemented by the laboratory. These techniques enable information about the kinetics and transport of metabolites (and their quantification) to be obtained.

Current research projects predominantly focus on clinical studies, aimed to improve infant nutrition and the the dietary treatment of metabolic disorders:

• investigation of the efficiency of dietary supply of docosahexaenoic acid and 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate during the second half of pregnancy and early infancy and its effect on infantile development;
• investigation of the influence of the protein content of infantile diet during the first year of life on infantile growth focussing on the obesity risk in later life;
• investigation of the placental transfer of fatty acids and its importance for foetal growth;
• investigation of the metabolism of essential fatty acids and their long chain polyunsaturated derivatives in lactating women with the aim of quantifying the relative importance of diet and endogenous metabolism.