Breast milk is crucial for microbiome development in babies

A recent scientific breakthrough reveals the profound influence of human breast milk on the health of an infant. In a nutshell, our body’s most natural nourishment for newborns, breast milk, is found to have a protective effect against asthma by shaping the baby’s microbiome during the first year of life.

Mother’s milk: Natural pacemaker for infants

You might wonder why breast milk is a big deal. Well, the answer lies in our body’s complex community of microorganisms, known as the microbiome.

A recent study led by NYU Langone Health and the University of Manitoba shows that breastfeeding for more than three months supports the gradual maturation of the microbiome in the infant’s digestive system and nasal cavity.

Stopping breastfeeding before this period disrupts this development process, leading to a higher risk of preschool asthma.

Breast milk and the microbiome

Human breast milk isn’t just about nutrition. It is also about promoting the right microbes in the infant’s gut and nasal cavity.

Some components in breast milk, like complex sugars called human milk oligosaccharides, can only be broken down with the help of certain microbes.

This gives a leg-up to these microbes over others, creating a specialized microbiome environment within the infant.

Early weaning from breast milk, on the other hand, leads to a different set of microbes thriving, ones that help digest formula components.

These microbes eventually colonize all babies, but their early arrival is linked to an increased risk of asthma.

Breast milk for asthma prevention

Study co-senior investigator Dr. Liat Shenhav is an assistant professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in the Institute for Systems Genetics and the Department of Microbiology.

“Just as a pacemaker regulates the rhythm of the heart, breastfeeding and human milk set the pace and sequence for microbial colonization in the infant’s gut and nasal cavity, ensuring that this process occurs in an orderly and timely manner,” said Dr. Shenhav.

“Healthy microbiome development is not only about having the right microbes. They also need to arrive in the right order at the right time.”

Microbiome, asthma, and breast milk

This is the part where science gets interesting. Breastfed children had a later appearance of a bacterial species called Ruminococcus gnavus in their guts compared to formula-fed babies.

This bacterium is related to the production of molecules called short-chain fatty acids, and the formation and breakdown of the amino acid tryptophan.

Both of these processes have ties to immune system regulation and disruption, including an increased asthma risk.

Through tracking the changes in the infants’ microbiomes and their mothers’ breastfeeding habits, the researchers were able to identify breastfeeding duration as a crucial determinant of the child’s microbial makeup.

Valuable insights through machine learning

The team also created a machine-learning model that predicted asthma years in advance based on these microbial patterns and milk components. The primary way breastfeeding reduces asthma risk, they found, is through shaping the infant’s microbiome.

“The algorithms we developed provide valuable insights into microbial dynamics during an infant’s first year of life and how these microbes interacted with the infant,” said Dr. Shenhav.

These insights allowed the team to move beyond identifying associations, enhancing their ability to make predictions and explore causal relationships.

“Our research highlights the profound impact of breastfeeding on the infant microbiome and breastfeeding’s essential role in supporting respiratory health,” Shenhav explained.

By uncovering the mechanisms behind the protective effects of breast milk, as demonstrated in this study, scientists aim to inform national guidelines on breastfeeding and weaning from breast milk in a data-driven manner.

Milestone in infant health research

The research has been supported through a variety of grants and programs, including the National Institutes of Health and the Canada Research Chair Program.

The study was a part of the CHILD Cohort Study, which has been studying the same 3,500 Canadian children at different life stages, starting from the womb and stretching into adolescence.

The tireless efforts of a large, dedicated group of investigators from various institutions have made this research possible.

The experts have provided valuable insights into the complex dynamics of the microbiome in an infant’s first year of life, showing us how important mother’s milk are for respiratory health and asthma prevention.

This is a reminder that sometimes, the most natural solutions are the most effective ones.

The study is published in the journal Cell.

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