Abstract
Several lines of evidence suggest that the intestinal microbiota plays crucial roles in infant development, and that it is highly influenced by extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Prebiotic-containing infant formula may increase gastrointestinal tolerance and improve commensal microbiota composition. However, it remains unknown whether supplementation of milk-formulas with prebiotics and 1,3-olein-2-palmitin (OPO) can achieve feeding outcomes similar to those of breastfeeding. In the present study, we investigated the effects of two kinds of infant formula with different additives on the overall diversity and composition of the fecal microbiota, to determine which was closer to breastfeeding. A total of 108 infants were enrolled, including breastfeeding (n=59) and formula feeding group (n=49). The formula feeding infants were prospectively randomly divided into a standard formula group (n=18), and a supplemented formula group(n=31). The fecal samples were collected at 4 months after intervention. Fecal microbiota analysis targeting the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was performed using MiSeq sequencing. The overall bacterial diversity and composition, key functional bacteria, and predictive functional profiles in the two different formula groups were compared with breastfeeding group. We found that the alpha diversity of the gut microbiota was not significantly different between the OPO and breastfeeding groups with Chaos 1 index (p=0.346). The relative abundances of Enhydrobacter and Akkermansia in the OPO group were more similar to those of the breastfeeding group than to those of the standard formula group. The gut microbiota metabolism function prediction analysis showed that the supplemented formula group was similar to the breastfeeding group in terms of ureolysis (p=0.297). These findings suggest that, when formula supplemented with prebiotics and OPO was given, the overall bacterial diversity and parts of the composition of the fecal microbiota would be similar to that of breastfeeding infants.
Highlights
Breastfeeding is associated with several health benefits in children, including reduced risk of acute otitis media, gastrointestinal and other infections, atopic dermatitis, and asthma (AAP, 2012; Chantry et al, 2015; Fabrizio et al, 2018; WHO, 2018)
We prospectively enrolled a total of 108 infants; 59 infants were assigned to the breastfeeding group, and 49 infants were assigned to the supplemented formula group (n=31) or the standard formula group (n=18)
Parity was higher in the supplemented formula and standard formula groups (P=0.006), the father’s and mother’s educational levels were higher in the breastfeeding group (P
Summary
Breastfeeding is associated with several health benefits in children, including reduced risk of acute otitis media, gastrointestinal and other infections, atopic dermatitis, and asthma (AAP, 2012; Chantry et al, 2015; Fabrizio et al, 2018; WHO, 2018). The appropriate infant formula is chosen depending on the specific needs of the infant (Kleinman and Greer, 2014). Efforts were made to mimic the properties of human milk by adding probiotics and prebiotics in infant formula to improve microbiota maturation, as well as to ensure proper development and functioning of the immune system (Guaraldi and Salvatori, 2012)
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