Press Releases
CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif.—August 26, 2014 —Prolacta Bioscience, the pioneer in human milk-based nutritional products, announced today that its human milk cream supplement, Prolact CR™, was the subject of a new report in the Journal of Pediatrics. Prolact CR™ is the world’s first and only human milk caloric fortifier made from pasteurized human milk cream for preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
According to the report, researchers at the USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital successfully incorporated a cream supplement into premature infants’ diets that improved their growth outcomes in the NICU.
Critically ill and premature infants have special dietary needs requiring higher levels of fat, protein and calories than a full-term baby would need. Since human breast milk is highly variable, a significant percentage typically contains less than 20 calories per fluid ounce. Adding a human milk-derived cream supplement to mom’s own or donor breast milk when less than 20 calories are present provides the nutrition these preemies need for growth.
In this study, led by Dr. Amy Hair, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor and neonatologist at Texas Children’s Hospital, researchers compared the growth outcomes of premature infants who received an exclusive human milk diet (EHMD) and the human milk-derived cream supplement to a control group of premature infants receiving a standard EHMD feeding regimen (without the cream supplement). They found that infants in the cream group had better growth outcomes in terms of weight and length than infants in the control group.
“For premature babies who weigh less than 1,250 grams (about 2 pounds, 3.2 ounces) one of the problems is that their lungs and other organs are still developing when they are born. If the infant gains weight and increases in length at a good rate while in the NICU, this helps improve their outcome,” said Dr. Hair.
Multiple clinical studies have shown that when extremely premature infants (500 – 1,250 grams at birth) are fed an exclusive human milk diet it protects the intestines and supports their growth. In this study, researchers sought a way to optimize this growth in very small infants who need additional calories. Because infants are already receiving enough protein, another way to help them grow is by giving them fat.
“Previously, we would add oils or infant formula to help premature babies grow, but we can now use a natural source from donor milk,” said Dr. Hair. Since November 2013, the NICU at Texas Children’s Hospital has changed its protocol to add this cream supplement to the diet of infants who weigh less than 1,500 grams.
It was Prolacta’s scientific advances in human milk processing that made it possible to separate donor human milk from the cream. This discovery brings new hope to the most critically ill preemies in the NICU. Prolact CR™ is composed of approximately 25% milk fat, and is used with either mother’s own breast milk or human donor milk as a natural way to give these preemies the added fat they require. Prolact CR™ is available by prescription only and is intended for use in the NICU for premature infants.
Prolacta’s full line of human milk-based products helps hospitals meet the American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement regarding breastfeeding and the use of human milk. Recommendations include the use of human milk for all preterm infants, whether mother’s own milk or pasteurized donor human milk.
The full report can be found here: http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(14)00627-1/fulltext. Research support was provided by Prolacta Bioscience.
About Prolacta Bioscience
Prolacta Bioscience, Inc. is a privately-held life sciences company dedicated to Advancing the Science of Human Milk®. The company pioneered the development of human milk-based nutritional products to meet the needs of critically ill, premature infants in the NICU and leads the industry in the quality and safety of nutritional products made from breast milk. Prolacta operates the first and only pharmaceutical-grade manufacturing facility for the processing of human breast milk. For more information please visit www.prolacta.com.
Contacts
Prolacta Bioscience, Inc.
Loren Kosmont, 310-721-9444
Lkosmont@prolacta.com