Another reason why the breast is ideal for fragile premature babies

MONDAY, June 17, 2019 (HealthDay News) – Breast milk offers many benefits for babies. And now, researchers say that bad milk contains an antibody that protects premature babies from an often deadly bacterial disease called necrotizing enterocolitis.

Anti-immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies protect against this disease. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh UPMC Children's Hospital explained that premature newborns get IgA in their mother's bad milk during the first weeks of life.

IgA antibodies bind to bacteria in the intestine. According to this study, the more IgA-related bacteria, the less likely babies are to develop NEC.

"It's been known for a decade that babies with NEC have specific bacteria – Enterobacteriaceae – in their guts, but what we found is that it's not how much Enterobacteriaceae there is one, but whether it is related to IgA or not and this is potentially exploitable, "said lead author Timothy Hand, who is badistant professor of diseases. Infectious Pediatric Pitt's School of Medicine.

The researchers badyzed stool samples of 30 premature infants with NEC and 39 without NEC. Babies who were badfed had more intestinal IgA-related bacteria – a good thing – than formula-fed babies. Infants who developed NEC were more likely to have been formula fed.

Among babies without NEC, Enterobacteriaceae was largely bound by IgA, allowing various types of bacteria to grow. But in infants with NEC, unbound IgA Enterobacteriaceae dominant in the days preceding the diagnosis of the disease, according to the researchers.

The study was published June 17 in the newspaper Nature Medicine.

As part of their research, the team elevated mice that could not produce IgA in their bad milk. Puppies fed milk without their mother's IgA were just as sensitive to NEC as those fed formula.

However, preventing NEC may not be as simple as adding IgA to infant formula, Hand said.

He noted that bad milk offers other benefits than IgA. Donor milk is therefore the best choice if bad-feeding or pumped bad milk is not an option.

"What we have shown is that IgA is needed but may not be enough to prevent the NEC," Hand said in a press release issued by a university. "What we are saying is that you may want to test the donor's milk antibody content and then target the most protective milk on the most exposed infants."

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more information about necrotizing enterocolitis.