Bacteria Help Infants Digest Milk More Effectively Than Adults

[Elmore Furth]

Cheese and yogurt aren't the only bacterially processed mild products that facilitate human consumption.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 24, 2010) — Infants are more efficient at digesting and utilizing nutritional components of milk than adults due to a difference in the strains of bacteria that dominate their digestive tracts.

"Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are the third-largest solid component of milk. Their structural complexity renders them non-digestible to the host," say the researchers. "Bifidobacterium longum strains often predominate the colonic microbiota of exlusively breast-fed infants. Among the three recognized subspecies, B. longum subsp. infantis achieves high levels of cell growth on HMOs and is associated with early colonization of the infant gut."

The results of this study suggest that B. longum has at least 2 distinct subspecies: B. longum subsp. infantis, adapted to ultilize milk carbon and found primarily in the digestive tract of children, and B. longum subsp. longum, specialized for plant-derived carbon metabolism and associated with the adult digestive tract.

"Although early gut colonization is likely dependent on a multitude of dietary and nondietary factors, the delivery of complex oligosaccharides through milk creates an ideal and unique nutrient niche for the establishment of, and colonization by, B. longum subsp. infantis strains," say the researchers. "During weaning, a gradual transitioning from milk-based to plant-based diets generates a shift in carbon availability in the gastrintestinal tract favorable for the expansion and formtion of an adult-like gastointestinal tract microbiota."



Bacteria Help Infants Digest Milk More Effectively Than Adults

[Ilsa]

1. Were these infants recipients of colostrum or breastmilk before milk?

I can't help but wonder if the early human milk provided a living biological nutrient to facilitate milk digestion.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. It's only anecdotal, but both my bro and I were breast-fed and neither of us can deal with milk now.

But then our family has a tendency toward GI tract problems, so there's more happening here than just your average tummies. :)

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. More likely genetic

The ability to digest lactose as an adult is a mutation that has developed a few times - in Europeans, and some East African populations: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2009-08-30-lactose-intolerance_N.htm

But it's not universal among European descendants either - it's found more in northern Europeans (where, perhaps, it's more of an advantage - herds of cows are a good way of getting through cold winters).

[Ilsa]

7. +1!! thank you for replying to this so I didn't have to.

I spent a decade working in the lactation field, and I found so many of these intolerances to be familial, whether by genetics or occasionally environment.

Personally, I have only moderate tolerance for dairy, and it developed over time. No one, including me, understood why I didn't like ice cream as a child. :-)

[applegrove]

3. I wonder if they will find a cure for colic in this?

[TheMadMonk]

4. Found it a long time ago. The old style beerbottle teat with a breather. /nt

[kestrel91316]

5. Apparently colic is due to gastroesophageal reflux, and plain old pepcid is the ticket.