Breast milk microbiota: A complex microbiome with multiple impacts and conditioning factors

Breastfeeding is associated with considerable health benefits for infants. Aside from essential nutrients, immune cells and bioactive components, breast milk also contains a diverse range of microbes, which are important for maintaining mammary and infant health. In this review, we summarise studies that have investigated the composition of the breast milk microbiota and factors that might influence it.We identified 44 studies investigating 3105 breast milk samples from 2655 women. Several studies reported that the bacterial diversity is higher in breast milk than infant or maternal faeces.

Source: Journal of Infection - February 5, 2020 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Petra Zimmermann, Nigel Curtis Tags: Review Source Type: research