On the morning of March 6, funded by the Swiss Family Larsen Rosenquist Foundation (FLRF) ,the Shanghai Breast Feeding Research Center was jointly established by Tongji and Fudan Universities. Relying on the MSTU, The First Maternity& Infant Health Care Institute Affiliated to Tongji University, the Public Health School of Fudan University, and the Pediatric Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, the center will be committed to developing epidemiological research on breast feeding physiology and study on long-term mechanism of maternal and infant health, becoming the first of its kind in the nation.
The Swiss family Larsen Rosenquist Foundation (hereinafter referred to as FLRF) is an independent foundation dedicated to the promotion of breastfeeding, focusing on promoting multi-disciplinary cooperation and vigorously supporting research projects beneficial to maternal and infant health.
FLRF has donated a total of 11 million Swiss francs to Shanghai Breast Feeding Research Center, which will carry out large-scale and comprehensive epidemiological research in four aspects of maternal and infant (i.e. women population epidemiology and lactation research, children's clinical epidemiology research, children population epidemiology and lactation research, women's clinical epidemiology research), and thus set up four chairs of professors correspondingly. FLRF hopes that the enter`s establishment will enable infants and mothers to benefit from the research results of breast feeding epidemiology in the near future, so that China and the rest of the world can share the related achievements. Shanghai Breast Feeding Research Center will also focus on formulating breastfeeding-related policies, expanding breastfeeding projects, training young scientific talents and improving bedside treatment. Researchers with the center are also able to work with other members of the FLRF breastfeeding multidisciplinary collaboration network.
Breast feeding contribute to preterm babies` convalesce
For healthy babies, breast milk is the best food; but for many preterm newborns with problems like low birth weight, infection and intestinal diseases, breast milk is not only food, but also a good medicine. Studies have shown that breast milk contains a large number of antibodies, biological active ingredients and living cells, which can help a baby resist infection. various growth factors can promote the growth and maturity of the intestinal tract, improve digestion and immune ability; a variety of oligosaccharides can play an anti-inflammatory and bacteriostatic role, which is of great significance for the protection of the oral and intestinal mucosa; unsaturated fatty acids can promote the development of brain and vision. In addition, breastfeeding can effectively reduce the incidence of NEC and infection.
Affiliated Shanghai First Maternity And Infant Hospital of Tongji University is one of well-known third grade& class A obstetrics and gynecology hospitals in Shanghai, with more than 30,000 deliveries in recent years. The hospital has been committed to promoting breastfeeding in which the breastfeeding rate of healthy newborns is more than 90%, and that of hospitalized preterm infants is more than 70%.
In order to further improve the breastfeeding rate of preterm infants, the "human milk bank of pediatric hospital affiliated to Fudan University" was established in 2017, which is the first milk bank for newborns (especially preterm infants) in Shanghai, providing breastfeeding for high-risk newborns who cannot during hospitalization.
Lei Xinghui, vice president of Tongji University, said that the establishment of Larsson Rosenquist Shanghai Breast Feeding Research Center is a good opportunity to build a communication platform for scientists committed to breastfeeding and maternal and infant health research, actively carry out multidisciplinary, comprehensive and international cooperation and exchange, and constantly promote the forefront of breastfeeding epidemiology research, so as to benefit the public.
Göran Larsson, chairman of FLRF, said frankly that this time, He hoped that, through the cooperation with China's first-class universities and its affiliated medical institutions for epidemiological research, the research results could function as a beacon light in the field of epidemiology and be shared as resources to researchers and scholars interested in this field worldwide.
Gui Yonghao, executive vice president of Fudan University and founding director of Shanghai Breast Feeding Research Center, said that the donation mode and cooperation mode of Shanghai Breast Feeding Research center is a new attempt. FLRF's Breast Feeding Research Centers have international presence, which will open a broader vision for research in terms of its multi-dimensionality and perennity.
Zheng Jialin, dean of the Medicine School of Tongji University, said that four professors of the Shanghai Breast Feeding Research Center will carry out the research in the mode of combining basic research with clinical practice, which is consistently adopted in the west. The establishment of the center means an important step on the road of maternal and infant research.
Katharina lichtner, managing director of FLRF, said that at the time of the establishment of the Shanghai Breast Feeding Research Center, two of Shanghai's top universities and their affiliated hospitals are closely linked. The favorable conditions of large population in Shanghai will provide a huge database for the research of maternal and infant health in the center. We hope that the cooperation between several institutions can provide continuous impetus for the research in the field of epidemiology!
