Food for Feeding Tubes -  The BLended ENteral Diet Study (BLENDS)

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I’ve set up this section of my website to signpost the various aspects of the BLENDS research and also to introduce the new feeding pump by Vygon which is aimed at blended diet.  

 

This page is an introduction to the BLENDS Project, a collaborative partnership between Vygon, Nottingham University, Professor Jane Coad, Dr Sarah Durnan and the dedicated parents of tube-fed children.  The collection of  Resourses linked here aim to improve the lives of families, carers and the wider community in understanding the benefits of blended diets.

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Since we began our own journey over 10 years ago, huge advances have been made in the acceptance of simple food prepared and given in the home and school environment.  10 years ago the British Dietetic Association was not supportive of BD.  Now they have a revised statement which outlines how to support parents, and an extensive ‘toolkit’, 10 years ago the plastics manufacturers and suppliers represented by the Enteral Plastics Safety Group put out a statement which strongly advised against using their devices for BD.  In January 2022 their revised statement (see my ‘facts’ page) has softened its stance and now accepts BD with the usual provisos.   UK groups like PINNT and PENG were not supporting us, neither were most NHS dieticians.  In fact 10 years ago we found nothing that supported the use of blended diet except a few online friends who got us started.  Then we found facebook groups here and in America where parents were supporting parents to safely give BD.  

 

The journey has been amazing, as has the benefits seen by so many parents.  The main authors of the BLENDS research Project are two dedicated and doggedly determined individuals who I have had the pleasure of meeting, and who have succeeded in giving additional credence to a concept so simple as giving real food, but which has so many strands of complexity.