Human Milk Analysis


The nutritional content of human milk changes over time and differs between mothers. Fortifying milk blindly without knowing the macronutrient content will often miss the nutritional target, leaving the infant at risk of over- or under nutrition. Miris HMA® measures the energy, fat, carbohydrate and protein content in human milk. This enables clinicians to adapt fortification to the actual macronutrient content of the milk, a process called target fortification.

5 reasons to use Target Fortification

1. Overcome macronutrient variability in milk

There are large variations in the macronutrient content of human milk used in neonatal care. Mother to mother variation, stage of lactation, and methods of storage and treatment can all affect composition. Target fortification is used to tailor human milk for different nutritional needs by analysing the milk prior to fortification. By knowing the macronutrient content it becomes easy to identify if fortification is needed.

2. Facilitate quality of growth

Target fortification allows for the managing  of protein  intake and of the protein:energy ratio in the range of nutritional recommendations. This facilitates quality of growth for each preterm baby.

3. Limit the risk of protein deficiency

The concentration of protein in human milk declines significantly after birth. The ESPGHAN 2010 guidelines indicate that most preterm babies have a protein deficit that is linked to their weight and to the composition of their feed. Measuring the protein concentration makes it possible to fortify the milk to each babies requirement.

4. Focus on better clinical outcomes

Using target fortification will limit the risk for malnutrition, in the short term associated with poor growth and in the long term with complications such as visual impairment, developmental disorder and cardiovascular disease, and overnutrition associated with increased body fat, larger waist circumference and impaired glucose homeostasis.

5. Stabilise nutritional intake

The target fortification approach will reduce day to day variability in nutritional intake, giving each baby the best oportunity for stable growth. 

5 steps of Target Fortification

Miris HMA™

Human Milk Analyzer™ - a medical device for macronutrient analysis of human milk

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