Reference Values

The MILQ Study provides the most comprehensive set of evidence-based reference values for micronutrients in human milk to date. Published in Advances in Nutrition, this work addresses longstanding gaps in our understanding of human milk composition by generating standardized, high-quality data across diverse populations and stages of lactation. These reference values are intended to support researchers, clinicians, and policymakers in interpreting human milk nutrient data, evaluating maternal and infant nutritional status, and informing dietary recommendations and intervention programs worldwide.

The study established global reference values for macronutrients, B vitamins, fat-soluble vitamins, and minerals throughout the first 8.5 months of lactation, with milk volume measured at each time point to quantify how much of each nutrient infants actually receive. Many of these values differ meaningfully from those currently used by the National Academy of Medicine — reflecting not a contradiction, but a long-overdue update to estimates based on limited earlier data. Alongside the milk composition work, er are currently assessing micronutrient status in the mothers and infants across all four study sites — work that will both illuminate how a mother's nutritional status shapes the nutrient quality of her milk and establish benchmark reference values for micronutrient status in healthy, well-nourished mothers and their infants across diverse global settings.

The MILQ reference values are compared against the Adequate Intakes (AIs) established by the National Academy of Medicine for exclusively breastfed infants and lactating women. These comparisons, published as part of the Advances in Nutrition supplement, highlight where current recommendations align with or diverge from the new MILQ data.