Human milk bank donors national nutritional survey 2024
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of nutritional information preferences in human milk donors in the U.K.
IRAS ID
341253
Contact name
Simon Dyall
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Roehampton University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
LSC 22/ 379, Ethics approval number
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 1 months, 30 days
Research summary
Maternal diet influences breast milk nutritional profile; however, a national survey undertaken by us revealed that non- for-profit donor milk banks in the U.K. do not provide specific dietary information to donors (unpublished data). Moreover, we have shown that donor milk in the U.K. provides very low levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are essential for brain development and immune system function (Nessel et al., 2020), which we have shown leads to preterm infants failing to achieve sufficient levels of dietary intake of these nutrients (De Rooy et al., 2017). There is therefore an urgent need to develop nutritional guidelines for milk donors, which will have broader relevance to lactating mothers in general. However, these nutritional resources must be designed and delivered in the most effective way, and understanding donors’ preferences is especially important as they are volunteers with altruistic motivations. Therefore any attempt to introduce a dietary intervention must be carefully considered to ensure it does not create a barrier to donation. Evidence also suggests that mothers who have received a combination of dietary education along with a report of their own breast milk fatty nutritional profile are more likely to be motived to undertake dietary modifications, and therefore the concept of donor’s acceptability of milk testing will also be explored within research. A pilot questionnaire delivered at one milk bank has already been undertaken, which was instructive in informing the design of the survey to be used in this larger study. The aim of this study is to undertake an online survey of milk donors from five representative milk banks across the U.K. to explore their preferences to nutritional information resources.
REC name
London - Dulwich Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/PR/0255
Date of REC Opinion
2 Apr 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion