Maximilian

Maximizing milk in a changing food environment

Milk, whether human milk during infancy or cow's milk during childhood and beyond, plays a key role in meeting the nutritional requirements of Canadians which, in turn, facilitates optimal growth, neurodevelopment and disease prevention. For very preterm infants, mother's milk and pasteurized donor human milk (PDM), when mother's milk is unavailable, is life-saving. Emerging data suggest cow's milk may play a role in linear growth in childhood and appetite regulation, glucose control, and obesity prevention. However, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) has displaced milk in the diet and many Canadians are opting for plant-based beverages for cultural, religious, and health considerations. Our aim is to investigate how milk and its nutritional and bioactive constituents, whether mother's own, PDM, infant formula or cow's milk, can be leveraged to maintain and improve the health of Canadians. This Canada Foundation for Innovation grant will enable the purchase of specialized equipment to systematically evaluate promising strategies to facilitate optimal delivery of nutrients to very preterm infants and preservation of the inherent biological properties of human milk. In addition, novel biomarkers of milk and SSB intake will be developed and used in studies to assess the role of cow's milk, plant-based beverages, SSB on appetite regulation, weight gain and body composition. In all our studies the mediating effect of parental feeding practices will be assessed. Read the University of Toronto news article.