Taking a probiotic supplement can improve your gut health. However, the beneficial effects of colonization with good microbes are often short-lived. Researchers have found that breast milk helps maintain long-term bacterial colonies of the intestine.
What happens when children consume breast milk and probiotics?
Scientists at the University of California Davis have found in ongoing research that probiotics and breast milk maintain intestinal health. Experts published the results of the study in the English-language journal mSphere.
If babies are breast-fed and probiotics taken, colonies of these beneficial intestinal microbes live for more than 30 days.
The results of the study show for the first time that the combination of breast milk and a probiotic leads to permanent changes in the baby's microbiome.
Healthy organisms stay longer in the gut
Although specialists stopped giving probiotic after 28 days, specific organisms remained in the stool community for 60 days. Healthy microbes survived and dominated. For the study, doctors examined a total of 66 nursing mothers.
Women were divided into different groups: 34 mothers provided their newborns with a probiotic supplement for 3 weeks.
Probiotic prescribed to mothers: Bifidobacterium longum Subspecies infantis EVC001.
Mothers from another group did not take probiotics. Researchers analyzed stool samples during the first 60 days of a newborn’s life.
The concentration of bacteria decreases if the baby is no longer breast-fed
Genetic sequencing, PCR analysis and mass spectrometry revealed large populations of Bifidum infantis, which improved intestinal health in children. Bacterial colonies persisted for at least 30 days after the end of taking the dietary supplement.
Scientists suggest that these changes were permanent. They also believe that colonies will decrease as soon as the baby stops breastfeeding.
Bifidum infantis, apparently, goes well with sugar in breast milk, which affects the intestinal microbiota. Bifidum Infantis is an effective consumer of milk oligosaccharides.
Bifidum Infantis can better use sugar molecules in breast milk than any other intestinal microbe, experts say. The results of the study showed that in infants treated with probiotics, the content of oligosaccharides in milk was lower.
Microbiotic disorders increase the risk of disease
According to the author, violation of microbiota, especially at an early age, increases the risk of cancer.
Other studies have shown a preventive effect against diabetes, allergies, asthma, and irritable bowel syndrome.
If doctors find ways to colonize the intestines of children with beneficial bacteria, this can reduce health risks for life. Researchers explain that stool samples in children treated with the supplement had fewer potential pathogens.
Higher levels of lactate and acetate have also been observed, which are beneficial products of sugar fermentation in breast milk of B. infantis. If it was possible to incorporate oligosaccharides into the probiotic, this would be a significant advantage for children who should not be breast-fed. According to Underwood, a three-week supply of a probiotic with additional milk oligosaccharides can improve the condition of children.
The hygienic hypothesis suggests that changes associated with the Western lifestyle have a long-term impact on the risk of developing diseases. In order to evaluate the function of the gastrointestinal tract in infants, mothers recorded the number of bowel movements in the children during the two-month study period.
It was found that the number of bowel movements in breast-fed babies varies greatly and decreases with proper nutrition. It was also found that in infants, a decrease in stool frequency and an increase in its density is associated with a healthy intestine.
