Contact: Rebecca.ruizmcgill@bannerhealth.com, 520-360-0308

TUCSON, Ariz. (Feb. 18, 2020) – Banner – University Medical Center Tucson’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is adopting the Prolacta Bioscience® exclusive human milk diet to help support the growth and health of infants born weighing less than 2 lbs.

Banner has replaced cow-based nutritional products for preemies in the NICU with Prolacta Bioscience® 10- percent breastmilk-based nutritional products. Premature infants require more protein and calories than what breastmilk alone can supply, so the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends fortifying mother’s milk or pasteurized donor milk with protein, minerals and vitamins to ensure optimal nutrient intake for preemies.

“We are looking forward to helping more babies go home sooner and healthier from our NICU. The exclusive human milk diet is becoming the standard of care for extremely premature infants in hospitals nationwide, and we are proud to be the first and only NICU in Tucson to provide this diet to our tiniest and most fragile patients,” said Margaret M. Eisele, Banner – University Medicine pediatric support RN director.

When used as part of an exclusive human milk diet, Prolacta’s 100-percent breastmilk-based fortifier is clinically proven to improve health outcomes and reduce hospital costs for critically ill, extremely premature infants in the NICU as compared with the use of cow milk-based fortifier or preterm formula.

In addition to providing the added nutrition preemies need, Prolacta’s breastmilk-based fortifier is the first and only to contain the full spectrum of mother-made human milk oligosaccharides, which are special sugars found in high concentrations only in breastmilk. They serve a predominantly prebiotic and gut maturation function for newborns and are believed to give breastmilk a wide range of health advantages beyond nutrition.

Compared with cow milk-based fortifier, there is a higher cost associated with the use of Prolacta’s breastmilk-based fortifier, but the cost is offset with improved health and shorter hospital stays because of the reduction in complications, including incidences of necrotizing enterocolitis (an intestinal disease), sepsis and feeding intolerance, as well as reduced total parenteral nutrition (IV nutrition) and ventilator days.  

“Prolacta’s exclusive human milk diet helps us improve the health outcomes and growth for the premature babies born at our hospital, and we know that these benefits to the babies we care for far outweigh the increased cost,” Eisele said. 

About Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and South

Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and Banner – University Medical Center South are part of Banner – University Medicine, a premier academic medical network. These institutions are academic medical centers for the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson. Included on the two campuses are Banner Children’s Diamond Children's Medical Center and many clinics. The two academic medical centers are part of Arizona-based Banner Health, one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the country. Banner Health is in six states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming. For more information, please visit: www.bannerhealth.com/universitytucson or www.bannerhealth.com/universitysouth