Abstract
Breastfeeding is considered the gold standard for infants’ nutrition, as mother’s own milk (MOM) provides nutritional and bioactive factors functional to optimal development. Early life microbiome is one of the main contributors to short and long-term infant health status, with the gut microbiota (GM) being the most studied ecosystem. Some human milk (HM) bioactive factors, such as HM prebiotic carbohydrates that select for beneficial bacteria, and the specific human milk microbiota (HMM) are emerging as early mediators in the relationship between the development of GM in early life and clinical outcomes. The beneficial role of HM becomes even more crucial for preterm infants, who are exposed to significant risks of severe infection in early life as well as to adverse short and long-term outcomes. When MOM is unavailable or insufficient, donor human milk (DHM) constitutes the optimal nutritional choice. However, little is known about the specific effect of DHM on preterm GM and its potential functional implication on HMM. The purpose of this narrative review is to summarize recent findings on HMM origin and composition and discuss the role of HMM on infant health and development, with a specific focus on preterm infants.
Highlights
Nutrition in early life plays a key role in shaping an infant’s future health
Exclusive human milk (HM) feeding is of utmost importance for preterm infants, as mother’s own milk (MOM)-feeding is linked to a reduction in the incidence of life-threatening diseases, such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and late onset sepsis (LOS), as well as to an improvement in preterm infants’ neurodevelopment [69]
Further studies are required to evaluate in detail the characteristics and biological role of human milk microbiota (HMM)
Summary
Nutrition in early life plays a key role in shaping an infant’s future health. human milk (HM) is known to exert a series of beneficial effects for infants, including improved neurological, immunological, and metabolic outcomes. The gut microbiota (GM) constitutes the most studied ecosystem in infants: Many factors, such as gestational age, mode of delivery, antibiotics, type of nutrition, and social environment, impact on the composition of the infant’ early GM. Among these factors, some HM bioactive factors, such as HM prebiotic non-digestible carbohydrates (i.e., human milk oligo-saccharides (HMOs)) that select for beneficial bacteria, and the specific HM microbiota, are emerging as early mediators in the relationship between the development of GM in early life and short and long-term health outcomes. In this review we will summarize recent findings on HMM origin and composition and discuss the role of HMM on infant health and development, with a specific focus on preterm infants
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