Pediatricians have long known that human breast milk is key to babies’ development of everything from a strong immune system to proper brain and motor function.
But the majority of human infants seem to lack a vital gut bacterium that turns breast milk into usable nutrients, according to a new study by researchers led by Stanford University.
About 97 percent of newborns studied lacked a bacterium called B. infantis, which is the only gut bug able to break down certain of the milk’s fundamental carbohydrates, so the infant can use the resulting products to fuel proper development.
Just as alarming, the study discovered that 93 percent of the bacteria found in infants’ guts that were tested were potentially dangerous, including such villains as e. coli, streptococcus, and salmonella.
The “bad bugs” found in the babies’ guts are known to hold 325 genes among them that confer antibiotic resistance.
Researchers conducted the study because recent reliable evidence indicated a “general trend” to dysfunction in U.S. infants’ gut bacteria “and associated negative acute- and long-term health consequences,” the research team wrote in their study report.
Babies’ gut bacteria could be disrupted by a number of sources, including mothers’ nutrient-poor diets during pregnancy, environmental toxins, and the growing popularity of Caesarean deliveries, the researchers said.
The study collected fecal samples from 227 infants in California, Georgia, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.
TRENDPOST: Some studies have linked disruption in babies’ gut flora to chronic inflammation and immune disorders in adulthood. With more and more health problems being linked to gut bacteria, repopulating infants’ intestines with beneficial bacteria could be among the most cost-effective long-term investments we could make in human health to beat back the rise in autoimmune and chronic conditions.
