06 Sep 2019 --- Assembling a formula-fed infant’s microbiota is still an area that warrants more research, but a new study has pinpointed the key proteins that deliver human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) to nourish important bifidobacterium, contributing to a healthy infant gut microbiota. The researchers from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Kyoto University, Japan, created a framework to identify and describe the function of the proteins that mediate the uptake of nutrients from the mother’s breast milk to an important group of bacteria in the child’s intestines. This could be used to guide milk formula producers in synthesizing new sugar additives to ensure that formula contains similarly beneficial sugars to breast milk.
