New breastfeeding research centre

By Hollie Ewers on 26 February 2018 Breastfeeding Research

The University of Zurich (UZH) is set to create a new centre for research into the long-term effects of breastfeeding.

It will be part of the faculty of business, economics and informatics and consist of a professorship and a research fund – both of which will be financed by the Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation.

The centre will conduct research to answer questions such as; what are the reasons a mother does or does not breastfeed? And what effect does the decision have on the child, the mother, and society?

The foundation initiated a professorship for human lactation research within the faculty of medicine at the university in 2015. The aim now is to combine both medical and economic research.

Chairman of the board of the Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Göran Larsson said: ‘With the two professorships in economics and medicine at UZH, a unique research cluster will be created that will enable findings from the medical field about brain development in breastfed infants to be linked to findings relating to the long-term effect of breastfeeding on children and young people.

‘We are pleased that we have been able to develop a fruitful partnership with UZH for the further development of human milk research with unique perspectives for teaching and research.’

Professor Ernst Fehr, behavioural economist and co-initiator of the new research program, said: ‘Any discussion about giving children the best start in life is highly emotionally charged. All the more reason, then, why methodologically validated and evidence-based findings are needed.’

The Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation, set up in 2013, is dedicated to the subject of human milk and breastfeeding. It aims to promote scientific and public recognition of human milk as the best form of nutrition for newborn babies.