The IAEA is launching a new coordinated research project to advance global maternal and child health by optimizing the dose-to-mother deuterium oxide method—a stable (non-radioactive) isotope technique used to measure breast milk intake in infants. This project will generate critical data on maternal predictors of breastfeeding success, expand the IAEA’s global human milk intake database and refine the method for higher accuracy.
In the first six months of life, breastfeeding is often the main source of nutrition for infants, providing protection against malnutrition, infections and chronic diseases. For mothers, it supports recovery after birth and reduces long-term health risks. Yet globally, only 44 per cent of infants under six months are exclusively breastfed.
Even when mothers are malnourished, they produce sufficient amounts of breast milk, which remains the best possible nutrition for their babies even though micronutrients levels may be affected. However, the perception that milk supply is insufficient and other challenges can lead some mothers to stop breastfeeding early. The dose-to-mother (DTM) deuterium oxide method can help address this issue by quantifying actual breast milk intake, providing stakeholders with reliable data.
How the DTM method works: Assessing intake of Human Milk in Breastfed infants | IAEA
“Understanding maternal predictors of breastfeeding can help to tailor interventions that promote and maintain breastfeeding practices,” said Cornelia Loechl, Head of the IAEA’s Nutritional and Health-Related Environmental Studies Section.
The IAEA’s new coordinated research project will build on the IAEA database on human milk intake, which includes a global collection of around 4000 DTM datapoints from 27 countries. Specific research objectives include: optimizing the DTM method, generating new data for the database that will help bridge regional and age-related data gaps, and identifying key maternal factors affecting breastfeeding success.
