Abstract
Human milk is closely correlated with infant gut microbiota and is important for infant development. However, most infants receive exclusively insufficient breast milk, and the discordance between effects of commercial formula and human milk exists. To elucidate the differences induced by various feeding methods, we determined microbiota and metabolites composition in fecal samples from 77 healthy infants in Northeast China and identified the differences in various feeding methods. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis demonstrated that the fecal samples of exclusively breastfed (BF) infants were abundant in Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus; the mixed-fed (MF) infants had the highest abundance of Veillonella and Klebsiella; the exclusively formula-fed (FF) infants were enriched in Bacteroides and Blautia; and the complementary food-fed (CF) infants were associated with higher relative abundance of Lachnoclostridium and Akkermansia. Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based metabolomics data revealed that the fecal samples of BF infants had the highest abundance of dl-citrulline, threonine, l-proline, l-glutamine, guanine, and l-arginine; the MF infants were abundant in d-maltose, stearidonic acid, capric acid, and myristic acid; the FF infants were enriched in itaconic acid, 4-pyridoxic acid, prostaglandin B2, thymine, dl-α-hydroxybutyric acid, and orotic acid; and the CF infants were associated with higher relative abundance of taurine, l-tyrosine, adenine, and uric acid. Furthermore, compared with the BF infants, the MF and FF infants were more abundant in fatty acid biosynthesis. Collectively, these findings will provide probable explanations for some of the risks and benefits related to infant feeding methods and will support a theoretical basis for the development of infant formula.
Highlights
The establishment of stable gut microbiota communities closely parallels host growth and immune development in early life (Harald et al, 2012) and has substantial implications for subsequent health (Rautava, 2016)
We evaluated the differences in infant feeding methods of 77 appropriately grown infants in Northeastern China by analyzing intestinal microbiome and metabolome
The effects of breast milk and formula on the development of infant gut microbiota are well-known (Paolella and Vajro, 2016; Milani et al, 2017; Pannaraj et al, 2017; Timmerman et al, 2017), to our knowledge, our findings have been rarely explored in previous studies and identified differences according to the feeding methods, especially the distinction among the formula feeding, the mixed feeding, and the complementary food feeding with the exclusive breastfeeding in gut microbiota and metabolites
Summary
The establishment of stable gut microbiota communities closely parallels host growth and immune development in early life (Harald et al, 2012) and has substantial implications for subsequent health (Rautava, 2016). The development of gut microbiota constitutes a highly dynamic and non-random process, in which positive and negative interactions between key microbial taxa take place (Avershina et al, 2013, 2016) This process is influenced by various conditions, such as mode of delivery (Biasucci et al, 2010; Dominguez-Bello et al, 2010; Munyaka et al, 2014), infant feeding method (Bezirtzoglou et al, 2011; Tanya et al, 2012; O’sullivan et al, 2015), gestational ages at birth (Ruiz et al, 2016), maternal diet (Lundgren et al, 2018), environment (MarieClaire et al, 2014; Sabesfiguera et al, 2015), and host genetics (Benson et al, 2010; Leamy et al, 2014; Turpin et al, 2016). Formula feeding may still disrupt the gut microbiota (Bäckhed et al, 2015) and may impair immune development (Innis, 2007) and normal metabolism (Chris et al, 2012)
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