Abstract
Human milk microorganisms could benefit the healthy development of the immune system in infants. In Asia, the practice of “doing-the-month” indicates a month-long period of postpartum recuperation for new mothers. This is composed of cultural practices, traditional beliefs, behavioral, dietary, and herbal therapies. In this pilot study, we evaluated the effect of “doing-the-month” on the human milk microbiota using a molecular approach. We collected two “doing-the-month” milk groups from randomly recruited mothers who had completed their “doing-the-month” program in either postpartum care center A (milk-PCA, n = 14) or postpartum care center B (milk-PCB, n = 27) for 20 to 30 days. As for the control group, milk samples were selected from postpartum mothers (milk-H, n = 46), who did not conduct the “doing-the-month” program. We found that the “doing-the-month” milk samples were associated with more diverse and unique milk microbiota and that these samples were also linked with more abundant Lactobacillus (milk-PCB) and prevalent Bifidobacteria (milk-PCA and milk-PCB). In addition, the milk samples from “doing-the-month” mothers could be enriched with more Archaea bacterial members, but the “non-doing-the-month” milk samples were enriched with more common skin-, oral-, and environmental-related bacterial members. This study highlights the impact maternal practices may have on the milk microbiome. More research is needed to investigate the effects this may have on infant immune health.
Highlights
Human milk is a complex fluid and is the optimal postnatal nutrition for infants
Breastfeeding has been shown to promote health in infants. It is associated with a reduction in diseases such as diarrhea [3], necrotizing enterocolitis [4,5], respiratory infection [3,6], enterovirus infection [7], and allergies, the evidence for this is conflicting in some cases [8]
The two postpartum care centers provided dietary therapies often complemented with herbal therapies
Summary
Human milk is a complex fluid and is the optimal postnatal nutrition for infants. It contains essential nutrients such as proteins, vitamins, minerals, fats, and carbohydrates, and a broad range of immune cells and bioactive components [1,2]. It is still worthwhile to understand the factors that could drive the variation in the milk microbiota since the milk microbiota is likely transferred directly to breast-fed infants This hypothesis is supported by the observation that Lactobacillus spp., administered as a probiotic to mothers, can be detected in their breast milk [10,11,20]. The Chinese custom of postpartum confinement, “doing-the-month” or “zuoyuezi”, is widespread across Chinese-speaking societies in several Asian and Western countries This complex practice is a 20–30 day ritual involving physical and social prescriptions, traditional beliefs, and dietary and herbal therapy. We selected two postpartum care centers that provide the typical program of “doing-the-month” and determined the milk microbiota using a molecular approach This pilot study conducted in Taiwan is the first to assess the influence of “doing-the-month” on the human milk microbiota
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