A central goal of The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine is the development of clinical protocols for managing common medical problems that may impact breastfeeding success. These protocols serve only as guidelines for the care of breastfeeding mothers and infants and do not delineate an exclusive course of treatment or serve as standards of medical care. Variations in treatment may be appropriate according to the needs of an individual patient.
Background: Estimation of nitrate and nitrite concentrations of milk sources may provide insight into potential health risks and benefits of these food sources for infants, children, and adults. The World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive consumption of human milk for the first 6 months of life. Human milk is known to confer significant nutritional and immunological benefits for the infant. Consumption of formula, cow's, and soy milk may be used as alternatives to human milk for infants. Methods: We sought to estimate potential exposure to nitrate and nitrite in human, formula, bovine, and soy milk to inform total dietary exposure estimates and recommendations. Using sensitive quantitative methodologies, nitrite and nitrate were analyzed in different samples of milk. Results: Human milk concentrations of colostrum (expressed days 1-3 postpartum; n ¼ 12), transition milk (expressed days 3-7 postpartum; n ¼ 17), and mature milk (expressed >7 days postpartum; n ¼ 50) were 0.08 mg/100 mL nitrite and 0.19 mg/100 mL nitrate, 0.001 mg/100 mL nitrite and 0.52 mg/100 mL nitrate, and 0.001 mg/100 mL nitrite and 0.3 mg/100 mL nitrate, respectively, revealing that the absolute amounts of these anions change as the composition of milk changes. When expressed as a percentage of the World Health Organization's Acceptable Daily Intake limits, Silk Ò Soy Vanilla (WhiteWave Foods, Broomfield, CO) intake could result in high nitrate intakes (104% of this standard), while intake of Bright Beginnings Soy Pediatric
Instituting interventions during the prenatal period is optimal for early obesity prevention in the child. Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) is a six-week, multi-component program to promote breastfeeding, healthy dietary habits, cooking skills and physical activity among Medicaid-eligible pregnant-women in Texas. HEAL is integrated into the healthcare system and offered as a standard-of-care for eligible patients. Methods: Preliminary evaluation of this natural experiment conducted from March 2015 through October 2016 informs the initial feasibility, acceptability and effects of the program on participant diet, home nutrition environment, physical activity, and breastfeeding self-efficacy and intentions measured using self-report surveys. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to evaluate pre- and post-intervention changes, controlling for participants' ethnicity, age, and income level. Interaction effects of session attendance on the outcomes were further assessed. Results: Of the 329 women who enrolled in HEAL, 210 women completed the pre-post assessment (64% retention rate). Pre-to-post intervention, there were significant increases in availability and intake of fruits and vegetables, self-efficacy towards consuming more fruits and vegetables, and cooking frequency and skills (p < 0.05), and decreased frequency of eating heat and serve foods (p < 0.05). Significant improvements in physical activity, duration of breastfeeding, perceived benefits and intentions to breastfeed were also observed (p < 0.05). Higher attendance of HEAL sessions was associated with better outcomes. Process evaluation demonstrated 95% fidelity of program implementation. Conclusion: HEAL operationalizes clinic-community linkages and shows promise in improving behaviors during pregnancy. Future research warrants the use of a stringent study design with a control group to determine program efficacy.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.