Breast milk gives certain gut bacteria a head start

Breast milk helps shape the gut microbiota for longer than previously thought.

Researchers from DTU and Rigshospitalet have discovered that sugars in breast milk, which are nondigestible by the infant—so-called human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs)—influence which bacteria thrive in the gut during the transition to solid food, and that this influence persists later in life.

The findings have been published in Nature Communications. ...