Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) awarded the University of Alabama at Birmingham a Project Grant of $180,860 under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) effective April 1, 2026, through March 31, 2029. This hypothesis-driven, patient-oriented pilot randomized clinical trial will evaluate whether providing a high-energy human milk diet enriched with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA) during the first two weeks after birth reduces respiratory morbidity severity in extremely preterm (EPT) infants born at 28 weeks gestation or earlier. The study will randomize 150 EPT infants to receive either an exclusive human milk diet enriched with a commercially available DHA/ARA supplement or a standard exclusive human milk diet, with primary outcomes measured as respiratory morbidity severity at term equivalent age.

The research will also evaluate the feasibility of using non-invasive oscillometry to measure lung function in this population. Building on findings from a prior NIH-funded trial demonstrating that protein-enriched diets improved growth and potentially reduced bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) severity, this study aims to determine whether DHA/ARA-enriched exclusive human milk nutrition provides superior respiratory benefits compared to standard human milk diets. The findings are intended to inform the design of a larger clinical trial and may establish that early enteral energy provision offers measurable respiratory benefits that could reshape neonatal nutrition strategies and optimize care for extremely preterm infants at high risk for developing chronic lung disease.