Abstract
Inter-subject variability in human milk microbiome is well known; however, its origins and possible relationship to the mother’s diet are still debated. We investigated associations between maternal nutrition, milk fatty acids composition and microbiomes in mother–infant dyads. Breast milk and infant fecal samples were collected across three time points (one week, one month and three months postpartum) from 22 mother–infant pairs. Food frequency questionnaires for the months of pregnancy and three months postpartum were collected. Milk fatty acids were analyzed by GC–MS and the microbiome in breast milk and infant feces was determined by 16S rRNA sequencing. Statistical interactions were computed using Spearman’s method and corrected for multiple comparisons. We found significant negative correlation between Streptococcus relative abundance in maternal milk and intake of unsaturated fatty acids and folic acid at one month postpartum. At three months postpartum, vitamin B-12 consumption was significantly associated with a single operational taxonomic unit belonging to Streptococcus. Comparison between milk microbiome and lipid composition showed, one-month postpartum, significant negative correlation between Streptococcus relative abundance and the abundance of oleic acid. Additional correlations were detected between Staphylococcus hominis and two medium-chain saturated fatty acids. Our results reinforce the hypothesis that maternal nutrition may affect milk microbiome.
Highlights
Health organizations worldwide have determined that human milk is the most important source of nutrition for newborns in the first weeks and months of their lives
The maternal milk microbial composition highly differed from infant’s fecal bacterial composition (analysis of similarities (ANSOIM) p-value: 0.001, R = 82%; (Figure S2)), with milk samples enriched in oral, skin and environmental bacteria, and fecal samples dominated by typical gut obligatory anaerobes (Figure 1)
Typical beneficial gut anaerobes such as Ruminococcus, Bacteroides, and Bifidobacterium, the latter shown to be pivotal in development of the infant gut microbiome [45,46,47,48,49,50], were detected, at extremely low abundances, in milk samples
Summary
Health organizations worldwide have determined that human milk is the most important source of nutrition for newborns in the first weeks and months of their lives. Today it is well-established that human milk is an important nutritional source for the newborn, and provides fertile ground for the establishment and growth of her or his gut microbiota, during their early and critical period of life [1,2,3,4,5]. Recent studies have established a link between development of early-life gut microbiome, and its influences on short and long-term infant health outcomes [6,7]. The associated long-term health consequences include allergies, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and inflammatory bowel diseases [3,13,14]
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