The aim of this study was to assess the effect of feeding high protein human milk fortifier (HMF) on growth in preterm infants. In this single-centre randomised trial, 60 infants born 28⁻32 weeks' gestation were randomised to receive a higher protein HMF providing 1.8 g protein (n = 31) or standard HMF providing 1 g protein per 100 mL expressed breast milk (EBM) (n = 29). The primary outcome was rate of weight gain. Baseline characteristics were similar between groups. There was no difference between high and standard HMF groups for weight gain (mean difference (MD) -14 g/week; 95% CI -32, 4; p = 0.12), length gain (MD -0.01 cm/week; 95% CI -0.06, 0.03; p = 0.45) or head circumference gain (MD 0.007 cm/week; 95% CI -0.05, 0.06; p = 0.79), despite achieving a 0.7 g/kg/day increase in protein intake in the high protein group. Infants in the high protein group had a higher proportion of lean body mass at trial entry; however, there was no group by time effect on lean mass gains over the study. Increasing HMF protein content to 1.8 g per 100 mL EBM does not improve growth in preterm infants born 28⁻32 weeks' gestation.
Keywords: growth; human milk; human milk fortifier; low birth weight.