Subscribe

Receive updates about our latest products in your inbox

Register For Our Next Webinar

Multivitamins: One Size Does Not Fit All

About Us

For over 40 years, Biotics Research Corporation has revolutionized the nutritional supplement industry by utilizing “The Best of Science and Nature”. Combining nature’s principles with scientific ingenuity, our products magnify the nutritional

Search the Blog

  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

Probiotics May Directly Affect Breast Milk Carbohydrate Composition

Bottles_with_milkNew research has revealed a possible two-way connection between maternal dietary microbes and the makeup of the oligosaccharide sugar molecules found in human breast milk.

Until recently, it was thought that oligosaccharides affected the microbial communities within an infant’s gut, acting as prebiotics that then decreased their risk of certain infections, conditions and diseases. Studies showed that a woman’s genetics could determine the presence of between 23 and 130 oligosaccharides in her breast milk, and that the range of sugars was related to her blood type.[1],[2]

However, a new Finnish study has shown that the probiotics that enter a woman’s digestive body orally may further affect her breast milk, changing which sugars occur within it. The study analyzed the breast milk 81 pregnant women, some of whom were administered probiotics, and others that were not, and found distinct oligosaccharide compositions in the milk of the two groups.

This study is important on a number of levels. It is the first time that a causal relationship has been discovered between friendly bacteria and human breast milk carbohydrate polymers. This breakthrough could have great consequences for infant as well as general human health. Breast milk oligosaccharides play a key role in the healthy development of an infant’s immune system and directly affect the child’s ability to fight ill health. For example, some of the sugars in question have been associated many benefits, including a reduced incidence of diarrhea, gastroenteritis, respiratory tract infections and other immune-mediated and infectious diseases during the first few years of life, as well as the promotion of immune development and inflammatory response regulation.[3],[4]

The Finnish study has cast light on the potential for future investigation into how food and probiotic use could facilitate disease and allergy prevention and promote overall infant health.

 

Related Biotics Research Products:  BioDoph-7 Plus,   BioDophilus Caps

 

 

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11787692

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2861563/

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5920034/

[4] https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/135/1/1/4663581

Submit your comment

Related Post

Obesity & The Microbiome

BMC Microbiology recently published a meta-analysis of metagenomic sequencing data from obese and non-obese participants...

Learn more

Oral Immunotherapy & the Microbiome

Results of a prospective and longitudinal study conducted among schoolchildren were recently published in Allergology In...

Learn more

Cranberry Extract & the Microbiota

Results of a small human clinical trial recently published in NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes indicate that short-term use ...

Learn more