Background: Humanmilk oligosaccharides (HMOs) support and concurrently shape the
neonatal immune system through various mechanisms. Thereby, they may contribute to
lower incidence of infections in infants. However, there is limited evidence on the role of
individual HMOs in the risk of otitis media (OM), as well as lower and upper respiratory
tract infections (LRTI and URTI, respectively) in children up to 2 years.
Objective: To investigate whether individual HMO concentrations measured at 6 weeks
of lactation were associated with risk of OM, LRTI or URTI up to 2 years in breastfed
infants. Associations with OM, LRTI and URTI were determined for the most prominent
human milk oligosaccharides including 13 neutral, partly isomeric structures (trioses up
to hexaoses), two acidic trioses, and lactose.
Design: HMO measurements and physician reported data on infections were available
from human milk samples collected at 6 weeks postpartum (n = 667). Associations
of HMOs with infections were assessed in crude and adjusted models using modified
Poisson regression.
Results: Absolute concentrations (median [min, max], in g/L) of 2′-fucosyllactose (2′-FL)
tended (p = 0.04) to be lower, while lacto-N-tetraose (LNT) was higher in the milk for
infants with OM in the 1st year of life (p = 0.0046). In the milk of secretor mothers, LNT
was significantly higher in the milk for infants with OM (RR [95% CI]: 0.98 [0.15, 2.60])
compared to infants without OM (RR [95% CI]: 0.76 [0.14, 2.90]) at 1 year (p = 0.0019).
No statistically significant milk group differences and associations were observed for OM,
LRTI, and URTI (p > 0.0031).
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that neither prominent neutral individual HMOs
(ranging from 2′-FL to LNDFHs) nor acidic human milk sialyllactoses or lactose are
significantly associated with a reduced or increased risk of infections in infants up to
2 years of age. Further research is needed to determine whether specific HMOs could
potentially reduce the incidence or alleviate the course of distinct infections in early life.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:84354 |
| Date | 28 March 2023 |
| Creators | Siziba, Linda P., Mank, Marko, Stahl, Bernd, Kurz, Deborah, Gonsalves, John, Blijenberg, Bernadet, Rothenbacher, Dietrich, Genuneit, Jon |
| Publisher | Frontiers Research Foundation |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 2296-861X, 761129 |
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