Human milk microbiota, oligosaccharide profiles, and infant gut microbiome in preterm infants diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis.
cross_sectional · Level IV
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39216480.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101708 and PMC identifier 11524953.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a severe intestinal disease of very preterm infants with mother's own milk (MOM) providing protection, but the contribution of the MOM microbiota to NEC risk has not been explored. Here, we analyze MOM of 110 preterm infants (48 NEC, 62 control) in a cross-sectional study. Breast milk contains viable bacteria, but there is no significant difference in MOM microbiota between NEC and controls. Integrative analysis between MOM microbiota, human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), and the infant gut microbiota shows positive correlations only between Acinetobacter in the infant gut and Acinetobacter and Staphylococcus in MOM. This study suggests that NEC protection from MOM is not modulated through the MOM microbiota. Thus, "'restoring" the MOM microbiota in donor human milk is unlikely to reduce NEC, and emphasis should instead focus on increasing fresh maternal human milk intake and researching different therapies for NEC prevention.
Medical subject headings
- Milk, Human
- Enterocolitis, Necrotizing
- Oligosaccharides
- Gastrointestinal Microbiome
- Infant, Premature