U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: FDA, CDC, NIH Consensus Statement on Recent Advisory Council Report on Premature Infants and Necrotizing Enterocolitis
Report Indicates Benefits of Human Milk in Protecting Against NEC and No Conclusive Evidence that Preterm Infant Formulas Cause NEC
Ensuring that the youngest and most vulnerable children have access to safe and nutritious sources of food is a top priority for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. Infant nutrition is critically important for brain and organ development.
Preterm infants have complex nutrition needs to support critical growth and development requirements. They are also at higher risk of a devastating condition called necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, in which the tissue lining the intestine becomes inflamed and can die, causing a life-threatening infection. In fact, NEC is one of the leading causes of illness and death among preterm infants, particularly those born at a very low birth weight. It is estimated that one baby dies every day in the United States from NEC, and those that survive may undergo traumatic surgeries, be neurodevelopmentally impaired, and have lifelong consequences.
While mother’s milk is the preferred source of nutrition – with pasteurized donor human milk as a next best alternative – preterm infant formulas are a critically important option for premature infants. These formulas can be critical for premature infants for whom parental or donor milk is not an option, or where a supplement to parental or donor milk is necessary for the health of the infant. For infants where the supply of human milk is insufficient, these formulas are part of the standard of care for premature infants.
Read more from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.