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It’s a question at the forefront of many mothers’ minds: Is it better to breastfeed or formula feed my child? This choice is particularly crucial for premature infants, who are at a higher risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening illness that causes the intestines to experience severe inflammation. Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine analyzed the effects of various diets on organoids—cells artificially grown to mimic an organ—derived from fetal tissue similar in age to that of an extremely preterm infant.
In the study, the organoids were treated with one of four types of milk. Parental milk was unpasteurized. Donor human milk was pasteurized, as it would be from a milk bank, which denatures potentially beneficial proteins. Standard formula was the formula full-term infants would usually drink. Partially hydrolyzed formula was the formula easier for babies to digest. The results revealed that human milk, especially parental milk, had the most benefits for intestinal health, as it supported both growth and differentiation of essential intestinal cell types in the organoids.
While human milk is most beneficial for preterm infants’ gut health, social and economic factors can make its provision difficult, especially due to limited maternity leave and the high costs of donor milk. Neonatologist and physician-scientist Liza Konnikova expressed the need for more support for employed mothers through better maternity leave policies and enhanced hospital support for families. Further research can also help determine what specific factors make human milk more beneficial. “If we can supplement the formula with healthier factors that the milk makes, those babies could also grow better,” Konnikova said.