Meconium in health and in disease.

Meconium is the first gastrointestinal excretion normally expelled by the neonate. This 
review discusses the composition of meconium: proteins, lipids, steroid and sterols, 
bile pigments and bile acids, glycoproteins, mineral composition, and enzymes. The 
major complications relating to meconium are serious: they include aspiration pneumonia, 
which may prove fatal and is not related to cystic fibrosis, 
the "meconium plug syndrome" and meconium ileus. Screening for cystic fibrosis 
is also examined. 