Prolacta Bioscience, the first and only company to offer human milk fortifier (HMF) made from 100% human breast milk for premature and critically ill infants, has announced the results of a groundbreaking study that will have long-term benefits for the nutritional care of very low-birth-weight preterm infants (less than 2 pounds, 12 ounces or 1250 grams) in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The study was published in The Journal of Pediatrics December 28, 2009 online edition at www.jpeds.com.
“The results of this study are astounding. No other intervention has shown such a beneficial effect for NEC”
The landmark study, whose lead author was Sandra Sullivan M.D. with the department of pediatrics at the University of Florida, Gainesville, concludes that for very low-birth-weight preterm infants weighing less than 1250 grams, an exclusively human milk-based diet is associated with significantly lower rates of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and surgical NEC, when compared to a very low-birth-weight preterm infant who received a diet that includes bovine milk-based products. NEC is a severe complication that often affects preterm infants, in which the intestinal tissue disintegrates. It is a serious disease with a mortality rate approaching 25%. The results of the study are significant because, until recently, the standard of care and the only human milk fortifiers available were bovine-based. This posed challenges for the nutritional care of very low-birth-weight preterm infants in the NICU because of the occurrence of intolerance to feedings, possibly as a result of exposure to non-human protein in the bovine-based fortifier.
“The results of this study are astounding. No other intervention has shown such a beneficial effect for NEC,” said Dr. Sullivan. “Neonatologists now have a way to appropriately nourish very low-birth-weight preterm infants and maintain the benefits of an exclusive human-milk diet. The decision to use traditional bovine-based HMF for these babies should not be made lightly, and warrants reconsideration in all NICUs.”