Enteral feeding composition and necrotizing enterocolitis

Enteral feeding and composition play a chief role in the prevention and treatment of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). In the face of decades of research on this fatal disease, the exact mechanism of disease is still poorly understood. There is established evidence that providing mother's own breast milk and standardization of feeding regimens leads to a decreased risk for NEC. More recent studies have focused on the provision of donor human milk or an exclusive human milk diet in the endeavor to prevent NEC while still maintaining adequate nutrition to the premature infant. There is growing literature on the provision of specific human milk components and its effect on the incidence of NEC.