Oxford Centre for the Endocrinology of Human Lactation

 The NECTAR Study

Breastmilk hormones have not been thoroughly analysed before, so what tests will be most useful?

Human milk contains hormones, cells, antibodies and metabolites which may be passed to infants during breastfeeding. These components could play a role in improving the health and wellbeing of the breastfeeding infant. However, little is known about the types and quantities within human milk. The purpose of this study is to develop laboratory methods for measuring different breast milk components.

We are asking mothers who are already providing breast milk to their infant(s) in the Oxford Newborn Care Unit to participate by giving a small sample of milk to our study.

These samples are hugely valuable to the research team for validating methods for researching breastmilk components.

Photo by Shlomo Shalev on Unsplash