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Maternal breast milk benefits establishment of preterm infant gut microbiota
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Preterm infants in the neonatal ICU reap more benefits from maternal breast milk than pasteurized human milk or infant formula, according to data presented at the 2014 Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting.
Katherine Gregory, PhD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and colleagues assessed how different feeding patterns influenced the establishment of 30 preterm infants’ intestinal microbiota. Preterm infants aged less than 32 weeks’ gestation received maternal breast milk (n=10), pasteurized donor human milk (n=10) or infant formula (n=10). Researchers analyzed bulk gDNA from stool samples to determine bacterial diversity.
Katherine Gregory
Infants’ microbiomes were characterized by patterns of bacterial species, which changed on a weekly basis due to a number of variables, including feeding. Clustering by phylogenetic relatedness showed that infants who were fed breast milk clustered separately from the other two groups. All groups experienced a high frequency of Staphylococcus during the first 2 weeks of observation, but incidence was lowest among those fed breast milk. Those given breast milk lost fewer phylotypes after exposure to antibiotics and recovered their microbiota more quickly. Samples from the first 2 weeks of observation clustered together, regardless of feeding history, which indicated that gut maturation influences the microbiome, according to the study authors.
“The analyses underscore the importance of feeding in establishment of the preterm infant intestinal microbiota. Infants fed maternal breast milk had distinct microbiota from the pasteurized donor human milk and infant formula feeding groups. Feeding with maternal breast milk may not only predispose the preterm infant to a more optimal pattern of early intestinal colonization, but may also provide some protection against the routine use of antibiotics at birth,” researchers concluded.
For more information:
Gregory K. Abstract #2931.455. Presented at: PAS 2014; May 3-6, 2014; Vancouver, Canada.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.