Adoption of an Exclusive Human Milk Diet Reduces Malnutrition Rates Among Vulnerable Premature Infants in Sydney Hospital

ADELAIDE, Australia, Dec. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Prolacta Bioscience^®, the world's leading hospital provider of 100% human milk-based nutritional products, today announced results of an interim subgroup analysis of a prospective observational study. The study found an Exclusive Human Milk Diet (EHMD) was associated with a decreased rate of malnutrition in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants cared for at Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney, Australia. These preliminary findings come on the heels of Prolacta announcing availability of its Humavant® nutritional products for premature babies across New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia.

The hospital compared malnutrition rates among ELBW infants (<1000 g) who received either an EHMD (n = 18) or a standard feeding protocol with cow milk-based fortifiers (n = 17) until they reached 34 weeks corrected gestational age (CGA). Using established weight-for-age z-scores, researchers defined mild malnutrition as 0.8-1.2 below the standard deviation (SD), moderate as >1.2-2.0 SD, and severe as >2.0 SD.¹

Interim findings show:

• Mild malnutrition incidence decreased from 35% in the control group to 28% in the EHMD group (p = 0.90).²
• Moderate-to-severe malnutrition rates dropped from 53% to 11% in the EHMD group (p = 0.02).²
• No cases of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a serious intestinal disease, occurred in the EHMD group compared to 11% in the control group.²

Dr. Trish Parmar from the Royal Hospital for Women presented the data at the Australian and New Zealand Neonatal Network Clinical Practice Improvement Conference (ANZNN). The hospital continues to gather and analyze data, with additional results forthcoming.