£1.2m grant to research benefits of breast milk

RESEARCHERS think breast milk could contain the answer to protecting vulnerable premature babies from illnesses such as sepsis.

- SAM VOLPE Health reporter

Academics at Northumbria University have been awarded £1.2m to continue research into how a kind of virus called a “bacteriophage” can work together with the naturally occurring fats in breast milk to protect a baby’s gut.

Bacteriophages are viruses that can “alter or destroy” bacteria. The researchers at Northumbria, the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust and the University of Liverpool are looking at whether those in breast milk can play a role in supporting the “gut microbiome” in premature babies. This can be not as fully-developed as in babies who are full-term, which means they are at higher risk of health problems that could include sepsis or another lethal condition called “necrotising enterocolitis”.