ARS | Publication request: HUMAN MILK FORTIFICATION FOR PREMATURE INFANTS (EDITORIAL)

Submitted to: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: August 1, 1996
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: The Children's Nutrition Research Center author is an expert on the subject of the benefits derived from feeding human milk to infants. He was invited by a prestigious scientific journal to write an editorial based on a study evaluating whether premature infants who were fed fortified human milk would benefit in terms of growth and intelligence-related development. The editorial calls the study "an important follow-up" to a previous study by the same authors. the editorial applauds the study's authors for successfully completing the first large-scale study of human milk fortification, and notes the complexity of the issue of fortifying (adding nutrients to) breast milk. One group receiving human milk fortified with a variety of nutrients (including protein, minerals and vitamins) was compared to a second group receiving human milk with only a few essential vitamins added. At the 18-month follow-up, the fortified group had slightly, but not significantly, better developmental scores than the second group. The fortified group had faster weight gain and protein nutrition status. Although the fortified group had more infections, the difference in the number of incidents of necrotizing enterocolitis (a severe infection) did not reach significance.