(Press-News.org) Scientists have discovered that important 'good' bacteria arrive in babies' digestive systems from their mother's gut via breast milk.
Although this does confirm that when it comes to early establishment of gut and immune health, 'breast is best', a greater understanding of how babies acquire a population of good bacteria can also help to develop formula milk that more closely mimics nature.
The study, published today (22 August) in Environmental Microbiology, which is a journal of the Society for Applied Microbiology (SfAM), was led by Professor Christophe Lacroix at the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH-Zurich, Switzerland.
Professor Lacroix said "We are excited to find out that bacteria can actually travel from the mother's gut to her breast milk.
"A healthy community of bacteria in the gut of both mother and baby is really important for baby's gut health and immune system development."
The Zurich team found the same strains of Bifidobacterium breve and several types of Clostridium bacteria, which are important for colonic health, in breast milk, and maternal and/or neonatal faeces. Strains found in breast milk may be involved in establishing a critical nutritional balance in the baby's gut and may be important to prevent intestinal disorders.
Professor Lacroix continued "We're not sure of the route the bacteria take from gut to breast milk but, we have used culture, isolation, sequencing and fingerprinting methods to confirm that they are definitely the same strains."
Future research will hopefully complete the picture of how bacteria are transferred from mother to neonate. With a more thorough knowledge, we can decide which bacterial species will be most important as probiotics in formula. But until then, for neonates at least, the old adage is true, breast is best.
### END
Breast is best: Good bacteria arrive from mum's gut via breast milk
2013-08-22
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
New health economics study highlights societal benefits of knee replacement surgery
2013-08-22
Rosemont, Ill. – The full impact of knee replacement surgery on both patients' lives and on society includes significant overall cost savings, according to a new study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS). Researchers found that for the average patient undergoing knee replacement surgery, the expense of surgery is offset by indirect savings of nearly $40,000. This translates to an average lifetime societal benefit of $10,000-$30,000. Most of the societal savings come from the patient's ability to maintain employment and increase earnings over a longer ...
Pazopanib shows better quality-of-life in advanced kidney cancer
2013-08-22
BOSTON -- Two oral targeted drugs approved for metastatic kidney cancer worked equally well, but one proved superior in tolerability, according to results of a large international clinical trial led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Pazopanib (Votrient) and sunitinib (Sutent), both recently approved as first-line treatments for advanced renal cell cancer, had similar benefits in delaying progression of the disease, but the safety profile and many measures of quality of life favored pazopanib, suggesting a potential shift in standard of care in metastatic ...
Study finds mother's genes can impact aging process
2013-08-22
As we age, our cells change and become damaged. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Aging have shown that aging is determined not only by the accumulation of changes during our lifetime but also by the genes we acquire from our mothers. The results of the study are published in the journal Nature.
There are many causes of aging that are determined by an accumulation of various kinds of changes that impair the function of bodily organs. Of particular importance in aging, however, seems to be the changes that occur in the ...
A brighter method for measuring the surface gravity of distant stars
2013-08-22
Astronomers have found a clever new way to slice and dice the flickering light from a distant star in a way that reveals the strength of gravity at its surface.
That is important because a star's surface gravity is one of the key properties that astronomers use to calculate a star's physical properties and assess its evolutionary state.
The new technique can also be used to significantly improve estimates of the sizes of the hundreds of exoplanets that have been discovered in the last 20 years. Current estimates have uncertainties ranging from 50 percent to 200 percent. ...
New results from Daya Bay
2013-08-22
The international Daya Bay Collaboration has announced new results about the transformations of neutrinos - elusive, ghostlike particles that carry invaluable clues about the makeup of the early universe. The latest findings include the collaboration's first data on how neutrino oscillation – in which neutrinos mix and change into other "flavors," or types, as they travel – varies with neutrino energy, allowing the measurement of a key difference in neutrino masses known as "mass splitting."
"Understanding the subtle details of neutrino oscillations and other properties ...
Berlin researchers open a door for solid state physics
2013-08-22
Without the currently available plethora of X-ray methods, basic research in the physical sciences would be unthinkable. The methods are used in solid state physics, in the analysis of biological structures, and even art historians have X-rays to thank for many new insights. Now, scientists at the Helmholtz Center Berlin (HZB) have identified yet another area of application. The team around Dr. Martin Beye and Prof. Alexander Föhlisch was able to show that solids lend themselves to X-ray analysis based on nonlinear physical effects. Until now, this could only be done using ...
Warming Antarctic seas likely to impact on krill habitats
2013-08-22
Antarctic krill are usually less than 6 cm in length but their size belies the major role they play in sustaining much of the life in the Southern Ocean. They are the primary food source for many species of whales, seals, penguins and fish.
Krill are known to be sensitive to sea temperature, especially in the areas where they grow as adults. This has prompted scientists to try to understand how they might respond to the effects of further climate change.
Using statistical models, a team of researchers from the British Antarctic Survey and Plymouth Marine Laboratory assessed ...
Researchers reveal hunter-gatherers' taste for spice
2013-08-22
Our early ancestors had a taste for spicy food, new research led by the University of York has revealed.
Archaeologists at York, working with colleagues in Denmark, Germany and Spain, have found evidence of the use of spices in cuisine at the transition to agriculture. The researchers discovered traces of garlic mustard on the charred remains of pottery dating back nearly 7,000 years.
The silicate remains of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) along with animal and fish residues were discovered through microfossil analysis of carbonised food deposits from pots found at ...
Researchers agree that Alzheimer's test results could be released to research participants
2013-08-22
PHILADELPHIA - A leading group of Alzheimer's researchers contends that, as biomarkers to detect signals of the disease improve at providing clinically meaningful information, researchers will need guidance on how to constructively disclose test results and track how disclosure impacts both patients and the data collected in research studies. A survey conducted by a group including experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that a majority of Alzheimer's researchers supported disclosure of results to study participants. The study ...
Shorter working hours do not guarantee happier workers
2013-08-22
A reduction in working hours does not necessarily mean happier employees, as it might merely be adding stress to their general working environment. This is according to a study by Robert Rudolf of Korea University, Seoul, that looks at the impact of South Korea's recently introduced Five-Day Working Policy. The paper, published online in Springer's Journal of Happiness Studies, focuses on the overall individual and family happiness of married and co-residing couples living with children, and also assesses the impact of working hours on people's overall job and life satisfaction. ...