# Extending shelf life and preserving the nutritional value of freezer-stored breastmilk

> **NIH NIH R41** · PUMPKIN BABY INC. · 2024 · $378,188

## Abstract

Abstract
PumpKin Baby is developing a method to extend the shelf life of breastmilk using food-derived bioactive
ingredients that preserve the structural integrity of breastmilk and retain its vital fats, vitamins, proteins, and taste
during freezer storage and subsequent thawing. Human milk is the gold standard for infant nutrition, containing
a complex blend of key nutrients and components that are essential to meeting life’s critical early milestones.
The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant’s life to
deliver an ideal source of nutrition, immune instruction, pathogen defense, and microbiome development. To
facilitate continued breastfeeding in light of challenges with return to work, nursing mothers often rely on freezer
storage of expressed breastmilk, and those with lactation difficulties seek donor breastmilk, which is also stored
frozen. However, the temperature of most household freezers (-20 °C) does not preserve the complex emulsified
structure of human breastmilk, resulting in fat breakdown and the generation of rancid flavor compounds during
storage and thawing processes. In addition to loss of fat/caloric content and rancidity, the nutritional value of
freeze-thawed breastmilk is significantly degraded compared to fresh breastmilk, particularly for proteins,
carbohydrates, antioxidant capacity, and bactericidal capacity. With ~74% of breastfeeding mother freezing their
milk for over three months, and ~42% of parents finding frozen milk more difficult to feed than fresh breastmilk,
these challenges contribute to suboptimal infant feeding regimes (e.g., discontinuation of breastfeeding) and
infant undernutrition. The only established method to prevent milk spoilage is pasteurization, which alters
breastmilk's emulsified structure and decreases its nutritional content and is impractical for caregivers to perform
at home. Addressing these gaps, PumpKin’s affordable technology would be the first to offer an easy to use, at-
home solution for breastmilk preservation. PumpKin’s breastmilk-preserving formulations have been developed
through rapid, high-throughput screening of 2,750+ food-derived and/or generally recognized as safe (GRAS)
compounds and have already been shown to inhibit >60% of fat breakdown over six months. Building on these
promising findings, the following Phase I Specific Aims are proposed: 1) Develop GRAS-based formulation(s)
demonstrated to significantly preserve fat stability in frozen breastmilk; 2) Investigate benefits of formulations on
the preservation of other high-value, storage-sensitive biological components in human milk (i.e., maternal cell
viability and milk fat globule membranes; and 3) Assess performance under realistic home storage conditions
and determine the minimum formulation dose needed for human breastmilk preservation. These aims will
position PumpKin to further develop this technology in Phase II, which will involve exploring additional...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10920148
- **Project number:** 1R41HD115506-01
- **Recipient organization:** PUMPKIN BABY INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Justin E Silpe
- **Activity code:** R41 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $378,188
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-04-10 → 2026-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10920148

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10920148, Extending shelf life and preserving the nutritional value of freezer-stored breastmilk (1R41HD115506-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10920148. Licensed CC0.

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