Photo: JGI/Jamie Grill / Tetra images / Getty Images
(Iowa City, IA) -- A new study led by researchers at the University of Iowa shows donated breast milk can have positive health benefits for extremely premature infants.
The study from the Department of Pediatrics at the Carver College of Medicine showed that babies fed donor milk were less likely to suffer a deadly form of intestinal inflammation than those who were fed formula.
Those fed donor milk also had the same level of neurological development as those who were fed formula.
The research indicates that donor breast milk may be a better alternative to formula when a mother cannot provide milk to an infant.