Premature infants need certain types of fat to grow and develop; however, because they are unable to continue receiving these fats from their mother, they need to receive them from other sources, such as intravenous nutrition or oral supplements. Currently, there are no guidelines on what doses and regimens are beneficial for premature infants.
The FAIM (Fatty Acid Induced Metabolomics) study is a randomized controlled trial of a fat (DHA & ARA) supplement.
Premature infants less than 30 weeks’ gestational age at birth will be randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups and will be given the supplement (or not, depending on the group) within the first 96 hours after birth. The baby’s growth will be measured, and samples of stool, urine, saliva, blood, and maternal milk will be collected throughout their stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)until discharge. Medical records will be reviewed until the baby reaches 3 years of age. The researchers hope to learn if providing this nutritional supplement to premature infants will be beneficial for them and what dose and regiment works best.
This study is registered on ClinicalTrials, a publicly available registry of clinical trials where you can learn more about the study.
Study Investigators
