This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing theresources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject andinvestigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source,and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed isfor the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator.Background: Breastfeeding is a major health promoting behavior associated with reduced risk of morbidity and mortality in young children worldwide. Breastfeeding infants have a lower incidence of gastrointestinal and respiratory infectious diseases, less atopic eczema, enhanced cognitive development, experience slower weight gain in infancy, and appear to have reduced risk of obesity in adolescence and early adulthood. Diverse health effects are likely due to the various bioactive factors found in human milk. Our research and others' has identified novel bioactive components of human milk, but the health benefits are not yet well studied in diverse populations. We propose to conduct standardized research in three international populations (U.S., Mexico, and China) to determine the variation in bioactive components of human milk, and the role of specific bioactive factors in prevention of infectious disease and their relationship to child growth and development in the first 2 years of life.
Aims :
The aims of our international research collaborative are to:1. Characterize the variation in concentrations of nutritional and other bioactive factors in human milk between populations, mothers within populations, and within mothers over the course of lactation.2. Examine the association between maternal factors and variation in the concentration of bioactive factors in human milk.3. Examine the association between variation in human milk factors and child health outcomes over the first 2 years of life: growth, nutritional or metabolic status by serology, acute respiratory infection, and acute diarrhea. 4. Establish a standardized research human milk bank as the basis for ongoing analysis of the constituents of human milk and subsequent follow-up to examine the association between variation in human milk factors and health outcomes in study children 0-2 years and at later ages.
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