The benefits of breastfeeding for mother and child have been demonstrated in numerous scientific studies, and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that the baby be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life. However, even if this is not possible, any amount of breast milk can benefit the child, as new research has found that breastfeeding, even when combined with formula feeding, improves the baby’s intestinal health and positively influences the development of your brain.
The study was carried out by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), in the United States, and has also identified specific metabolites that formula milk manufacturers could add to this infant food to optimize healthy brain development. as well as compounds that should be avoided. The results have been published in npj Metabolic Health and Disease.
“For those who struggle with exclusive breastfeeding, this study suggests that your baby can still gain significant benefits from breastfeeding as much as possible,” said Tanya Alderete, assistant professor of integrative physiology at CU Boulder and lead author of the work, which has He added that his research “suggests that even at low levels, some contaminants found in formula may have negative effects on neurological development.”
How breast milk influences intestinal metabolites
The researchers analyzed what is known as the “fecal metabome”: the diverse collection of metabolites found in the intestine and eliminated with feces. Metabolites are small molecules that are mass produced by intestinal bacteria as a byproduct of food metabolization and reach the bloodstream, influencing the brain and other organs.
Breast milk, formula, and solid foods also contain metabolites. “Looking at the gut microbiome tells us what bacteria are there, while looking at the fecal metabolome can help tell us what they are doing,” Chalifour explained. “It’s like a gut health report card.”
They collected fecal samples from 112 babies between one and six months old and chemically analyzed which metabolites were present. They grouped the babies into two groups depending on how much they were breastfed versus how much they were formula fed. At two years old, the children were given cognitive, motor, and language tests.
They found that samples from babies in different feeding groups contained significantly different levels of metabolites. For example, at one month of age, 17 metabolites were more abundant the more the baby was breastfed, and 40 were more abundant the more the baby was formula-fed. Additionally, the researchers identified 14 metabolites that were also associated with differences in test scores at two years.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. “Simply increasing the ratio of breast milk to formula can have a positive impact on a child’s development.”
The more metabolites associated with formula feeding they had, the worse the children’s outcomes, while the more metabolites associated with breast milk a baby had in his stool, the better he did on cognitive tests when he was young, with the one exception of caffeine, as higher levels of caffeine – a stimulant – were associated with lower cognitive scores, and breastfed babies had higher levels of caffeine in their stools, perhaps because the mothers may have been breastfeeding while drinking a cup of coffee.
A particularly beneficial metabolite was cholesterol: both at one and six months of age; The more a baby breastfed, the more cholesterol they had in their stool, and the more cholesterol babies had in their stool, the better their results on cognitive tests. This makes sense, since the fatty acid is essential for forming healthy circuits between brain cells. As the researchers indicate, between 80% and 90% of the brain volume develops in the first two years of life.
Improve formula milk to make it more like breast milk
In contrast, the more a baby was fed formula, the higher their levels of a metabolite called cadaverine, a known contaminant formed through fermentation. “Formula manufacturers may need to be more vigilant in reducing levels of this compound to zero,” Chalifour said.
Alderete acknowledges that breastfeeding is not always possible, but hopes her research can help manufacturers improve formula to make it as close to breast milk as possible. And he points out that just because a child hasn’t been breastfed doesn’t mean he or she will have neurodevelopmental deficits, as early feeding patterns are just one of many factors that contribute to brain development.
Her advice to new parents struggling with exclusive breastfeeding is to not give up. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, she says: “Simply increasing the ratio of breast milk to formula can have a positive impact on a child’s development.”
