Vitamin Research
The University of Roehampton have developed easy to use nutritional resources to support a healthy diet that could enhance the nutritional quality of donated breast milk.
Help us improve nutrition support for breast milk donors
We’re excited to invite you to take part in a new research study from the University of Roehampton, in collaboration with the Milk Bank of Chester and supported by UKAMB.
Why are we doing this study?
Maternal breast milk is the first choice for feeding preterm infants; however, if mothers are unable to provide sufficient milk, donor human milk is the recommended alternative.
The nutritional composition of breast milk can change in response to maternal diet, particularly the levels of omega-3 fatty acids. These are essential for infant brain and eye development and immune system function.
However, milk banks do not currently routinely provide donors with specific dietary information to support healthy eating while they are donating breast milk.
What will we learn?
We are doing this study to find the best ways to help breast milk donors eat a healthy diet. In the long run, this could help make their milk more nutritious.
We want to understand how donors experience and use nutritional resources, including:
1. How easy nutritional resources are to follow
2. Whether they can influence the nutritional composition of your breast milk
How could this help?
Your involvement could help improve nutrition support for future breast milk donors.
Our ultimate aim is to make nutritional resources available across the UK to support breast milk donors and mothers providing milk for preterm infants.
In the longer term, better nutritional support for donors could help optimise the nutritional quality of donated milk, which may be particularly valuable for the preterm babies who receive donor human milk.
Your privacy matters We only collect information needed for the study. Your data is kept safe, and any reports we write will never identify you. The Milk Bank at Chester will only access your details if necessary for the study.
You’ll receive an information pack with everything you need to know.
If you’d like to help shape the future of donor support, please contact [email protected]