Citation
Ho, Nhan T.; Li, Fan; Lee-Sarwar, Kathleen A.; Tun, Hein M.; Brown, Bryan P.; Pannaraj, Pia S.; Bender, Jeffrey M.; Azad, Meghan B.; Thompson, Amanda L.; & Weiss, Scott T., et al. (2018). Meta-Analysis of Effects of Exclusive Breastfeeding on Infant Gut Microbiota across Populations. Nature Communications, 9, 4169. PMCID: PMC6177445Abstract
Previous studies on the differences in gut microbiota between exclusively breastfed (EBF) and non-EBF infants have provided highly variable results. Here we perform a meta-analysis of seven microbiome studies (1825 stool samples from 684 infants) to compare the gut microbiota of non-EBF and EBF infants across populations. In the first 6 months of life, gut bacterial diversity, microbiota age, relative abundances of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, and predicted microbial pathways related to carbohydrate metabolism are consistently higher in non-EBF than in EBF infants, whereas relative abundances of pathways related to lipid metabolism, vitamin metabolism, and detoxification are lower. Variation in predicted microbial pathways associated with non-EBF infants is larger among infants born by Caesarian section than among those vaginally delivered. Longer duration of exclusive breastfeeding is associated with reduced diarrhea-related gut microbiota dysbiosis. Furthermore, differences in gut microbiota between EBF and non-EBF infants persist after 6 months of age. Our findings elucidate some mechanisms of short and long-term benefits of exclusive breastfeeding across different populations.URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06473-xReference Type
Journal ArticleYear Published
2018Journal Title
Nature CommunicationsAuthor(s)
Ho, Nhan T.Li, Fan
Lee-Sarwar, Kathleen A.
Tun, Hein M.
Brown, Bryan P.
Pannaraj, Pia S.
Bender, Jeffrey M.
Azad, Meghan B.
Thompson, Amanda L.
Weiss, Scott T.
Azcarate-Peril, Maria Andrea
Litonjua, Augusto A.
Kozyrskyj, Anita L.
Jaspan, Heather B.
Aldrovandi, Grace M.
Kuhn, Louise