Acceptability, tolerance and ease of use study of Wilbo’s Blends+
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A single arm intervention study to assess the acceptability, tolerance and ease of use of Wilbo’s Blends+ (a nutritionally complete commercial enteral formula made with real food ingredients) when used by parents of children and young people (3-15 years) as part of a dietitian prescribed enteral feeding plan.
IRAS ID
349234
Contact name
Sarah Durnan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 27 days
Research summary
Over 70,000 people in the UK require long-term enteral feeding, where food is given through a tube. Standard practice is for commercial enteral formula to be prescribed. However, there is an increasing trend towards giving homemade blended food through the gastrostomy tube, referred to as ‘blended diet’.
Studies have found blended diet to be a safe and nutritious alternative, with children on blended diet having fewer gastrointestinal symptoms and improvements in health and wellbeing reported. There is also a growing desire to use unprocessed food and de-medicalise feeding.
National and international guidance advises that blended diet should always be offered as an option. However, barriers exist meaning this is not always possible. Blended diet can be more costly and time consuming and is not always possible outside of the home, for example at school, respite, hospital or on holiday. There is a clear need for a predominantly real food, nutritionally complete, commercial product to help make blended diet accessible to all.
Wilbo’s Blends+ is a new, unique enteral feed made of real food with fortification which meets this need. This study will evaluate Wilbo’s Blends+ to see if it is acceptable and tolerated by tube-fed children and easy to use for their parents/carers. If the results are positive, the company will apply to make Wilbo’s Blends+ available on prescription.
This study will trial Wilbo’s Blends+ in children (age 3-15) over 7 days as part of their feeding plan and collect acceptability, tolerance and ease of use data using questionnaires from parents/carers alongside clinical teams.
The study is sponsored by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) and the funding comes from Innovate UK; a research grant awarded to the company Wilbo’s Blends. Up to 40 children and their parents/carers will take part from NUH and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.REC name
West of Scotland REC 1
REC reference
25/WS/0138
Date of REC Opinion
3 Oct 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion