Meconium in health and disease.

Meconium can be defined as the first stools passed by a newborn 
infant, the first stool being passed within 24 hours of birth 
by more than 90% of newborns. This paper will review current 
knowledge on the sources of meconium, and its composition in health 
and disease states. The precise origin of the components of meconium 
has not been defined. The qualitative and quantitative patterns of the 
individual constituents of meconium in health are considered: water and inorganic 
elements, enzymes, plasma proteins, glycoproteins, lipids, haemoglobin metabolites, steroids and bile 
acids, and sterols. Meconium from infants with cystic fibrosis has been 
more extensively studied than in any other disease and the paper 
concentrates on this entity. The composition of meconium in cystic fibrosis, 
screening tests for cystic fibrosis, the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis, and 
meconium ileus are discussed. 