Finding the right formula: Establishing the feasibility of doing science in the home to assess the safety of Powdered Infant Formula preparation

寻找正确的配方：建立在家进行科学评估婴儿配方奶粉制剂安全性的可行性

• 批准号: BB/W009188/1
• 负责人: Aimee Grant
• 金额: $ 4.09万
• 依托单位: Swansea University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FW009188%2F1
• 关键词: Finding; right; formula; Establishing; feasibility

WHAT IS THE ISSUE?Infant Formula is a substitute form of breastmilk fed to babies, which is used instead of mothers' breastfeeding when mums are unable, or do not want, to breastfeed. In the UK, services to support breastfeeding are inadequate, so the majority of babies are fed Infant Formula, with almost three-quarters receiving Infant Formula in their first six weeks. In the early weeks of life, babies have an underdeveloped immune system and this means that they are very vulnerable to bacterial infections. For this reason, any Infant Formula they are fed must be made to be free from harmful bacteria (sterile). To create sterile milk from Powdered Infant Formula, it is essential to use water that has been boiled and cooled to 70 degrees centigrade. The reason for this is that Powdered Infant Formula is not - and cannot be made to be - sterile during manufacturing. This means that by law it is allowed to contain small amounts of Salmonella and Cronobacter, bacteria which survive if the water used to prepare the formula is not hot enough. Over 3,000 babies end up in hospital in the UK each year because of these infections and another 10,000 are reviewed by a doctor in the community. Sadly, these infections can result in meningitis, sepsis and rarely even death. We surveyed over 300 parents who use Powdered Infant Formula; one third of them reported lacking confidence in safely preparing Powdered Infant Formula, and one in 12 said that they do not always follow instructions; instead for example, boiling water, cooling it in the fridge and later making up Powdered Infant Formula with the cold water. This may be something that contributes to the bacterial infections associated with babies who are fed Powdered Infant Formula.HOW CAN VOLUNTEER SCIENTISTS HELP UNDERSTAND THIS ISSUE?"Finding the right formula" is a collaborative community science project developed between parents and researchers ("Participatory Action Research") to test the safety of Powdered Infant Formula prepared at home, by testing its temperature. These days, caregivers may use a variety of ways to heat up the water that they use to make Powdered Infant Formula, including instant hot water taps and machines designed specifically to prepare Powdered Infant Formula. However, these machines are not recommended by the NHS because a small amount of research in laboratory conditions raised concerns about their safety, but this has not yet been tested when caregivers make formula at home.200 participants will be given the opportunity to use a thermometer to test the temperature of a sample of the water they used to prepare Powdered Infant Formula at home, in the way that they usually do. They will record in an online research diary the temperature of the water, and information about how they prepared the formula. Anonymized data will be available to the online community, to gain a variety of perspectives about how caregivers make up Powdered Infant Formula. Participants will be offered the chance to learn more about research and how they can contribute to it generally, to enable them to feel more confident to participate in research in the future. Small thank you payments will be provided to participants.WHAT WILL BE DONE WITH THE FINDINGS?The academics running the study and the participants will work together to share the results with the public, health professionals and policymakers by creating video and written content. If the online community would like to grow the study, we will seek funding to repeat the project with a larger group of people.As well as this, we will undertake an evaluation of how people have been able to engage with the research study (a "process evaluation"). This will allow us to learn about how food safety research can be conducted in the home by consumers, which may be valuable in other research studies, particularly where the temperature of a food is important to killing bacteria that can make us unwell.

问题是什么？婴儿配方奶粉是母乳喂养婴儿的替代品，当母亲不能或不想母乳喂养时，可以替代母亲的母乳喂养。在英国，支持母乳喂养的服务不足，因此大多数婴儿都喂婴儿配方奶粉，近四分之三的婴儿在头六周内接受婴儿配方奶粉。在生命的最初几周，婴儿的免疫系统不发达，这意味着他们非常容易受到细菌感染。因此，他们喂养的任何婴儿配方奶粉必须不含有害细菌（无菌）。要从婴儿配方奶粉中生产无菌牛奶，必须使用煮沸并冷却至70摄氏度的水。其原因是婴儿配方奶粉在生产过程中不是无菌的，也不能使其无菌。这意味着，根据法律，它是允许含有少量的沙门氏菌和克罗伊氏菌，细菌生存，如果用来准备公式的水不够热。在英国，每年有3,000多名婴儿因这些感染而住院，另有10,000名婴儿接受社区医生的检查。不幸的是，这些感染可能导致脑膜炎，败血症，甚至很少死亡。我们调查了300多名使用婴儿配方奶粉的父母;其中三分之一的人表示对安全制备婴儿配方奶粉缺乏信心，十二分之一的人表示他们并不总是遵循指示;相反，例如，将水煮沸，在冰箱中冷却，然后用冷水配制婴儿配方奶粉。这可能是一些有助于与婴儿配方奶粉喂养的婴儿相关的细菌感染。志愿科学家如何帮助理解这个问题？“寻找正确的配方奶粉”是一个由家长和研究人员合作开发的社区科学项目（“预防性行动研究”），通过测试其温度来测试在家制备的婴儿配方奶粉的安全性。如今，护理人员可能会使用各种方法来加热他们用来制作婴儿配方奶粉的水，包括即时热水龙头和专门设计用于制备婴儿配方奶粉的机器。然而，这些机器并不推荐由NHS，因为在实验室条件下的少量研究提出了对他们的安全性的担忧，但这还没有被测试时，照顾者使配方在家里。200名参与者将有机会使用温度计来测试的水，他们用来准备在家里的婴儿配方奶粉，在他们通常做的方式样品的温度。他们将在网上的研究日记中记录水的温度，以及他们如何准备配方的信息。分析后的数据将提供给在线社区，以获得有关护理人员如何制作婴儿配方奶粉的各种观点。参与者将有机会了解更多关于研究的信息，以及他们如何为研究做出贡献，使他们能够更有信心在未来参与研究。将向参与者提供小额感谢金。将如何处理调查结果？开展该研究的学者和参与者将共同努力，通过创建视频和书面内容与公众、卫生专业人员和政策制定者分享结果。如果在线社区希望扩大研究，我们将寻求资金，在更大的人群中重复该项目。除此之外，我们还将评估人们如何参与研究（“过程评估”）。这将使我们能够了解消费者如何在家中进行食品安全研究，这对其他研究可能很有价值，特别是当食物的温度对杀死可能使我们不适的细菌很重要时。

项目成果

Analysing Data With Members of a Stigmatised Community: Experiences, Reflections and Recommendations for Best Practice From the Finding the Formula Community Analysis Group

• DOI: 10.1177/16094069241229983
• 发表时间: 2024-01-01
• 期刊: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUALITATIVE METHODS
• 影响因子: 5.4
• 作者: Grant，Aimee;Mcnamara，Tara;Brown，Amy
• 通讯作者: Brown，Amy