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201909 https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.201909 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 2025-05 T23:59:59 44 pages Stewart, Adam Lynch, John Lewis, Beth Barrett, The Honors College Due to their immaturely developed gastrointestinal systems at early stages of life, neonates face unique challenges to their digestive systems, significantly impacting the ability to process macronutrients. This thesis highlights those unique compositional and physiological aspects, emphasizing the role of enzymes, microbiota, and intestinal permeability and their impact on infant nutrition. With a comparative analysis between the compositions of human breast milk and infant formula, it can be concluded an existence of a number of differences including the method of delivery. Human milk includes a dynamic composition shift, particularly with its foremilk-hindmilk transition, which optimally primes the GI system for digestion and enhances nutrient absorption. In contrast, current standard infant formulas feature a static composition, potentially overloading the underdeveloped neonatal GI with complex macronutrients. This dynamic leads to inflammation, impaired nutrient availability, and digestive distress/discomfort. This thesis suggests an approach to infant formula design by mimicking the foremilk-hindmilk shift through the implementation of a multi-stage feeding model. This relatively simple adaptation could improve digestion, improve nutrient breakdown/absorption, and reduce gastrointestinal distress without costly adaptations to infant formula's overall composition. Through the optimization of infant formula delivery, this approach could potentially bridge the gap between health disparities between breastfed and formula fed infants, leading to improved health outcomes particularly within socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. Infant Nutrition Formula Health Neonate Allergies Disparaged Communities Foremilk Hindmilk Bridging the Gap Between Neonatal/Infant Feeding Options: Improving Health Outcomes Through Nutrition Delivery Interventions