We all understand how important health research is, but the academic papers published are often hard and inaccessible for most of us. Here is a summary of some of the most recent and comprehensive research into the blended diet for tube feeding which further supports the benefits of a blended diet and dispels some commonly held objections.

Personal Health Budgets and the Blended Diet

Wilbo’s Blends in partnership with Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Manchester has been awarded a share of the £17.4m funding from Innovate UK’s Better Food for All competition.

Our whole society revolves around food. We meet people for a coffee or a drink, for lunch or dinner. How many times a day is the question posed, ‘what shall we have to eat?’ When you have a feeding tube you can be excluded from those conversations and all the social experiences that revolve around food and drink.

It’s not surprising that once the link between formula and feeding tubes is broken then the same principles of a healthy balanced diet still apply to people with feeding tubes as those eating orally.

A head teacher told us “We are a mainstream primary school and currently have two tube fed pupils in the school. We have been able to support the parental choice of offering a blended diet and have met with dietitians to ensure that we have a clear risk assessment. From our perspective, there is very little difference for us in delivering a blended diet rather than a formula. I was surprised to hear that so many schools are concerned about supporting a blended diet. One concern that we did have was if there was a spillage of the blend, what would we be able to provide instead? Thankfully this hasn’t happened yet! Having some packets of Wilbo’s blends for these situations and for when we are out on school trips would be perfect.”