Breastfeeding beneficial for babies, healthy lifestyle, fight off viruses and viruses

It is an age-old saying that breast milk has many health benefits for babies. A mother's breast milk contains antibodies that help the baby fight against viruses and bacteria.

Breastfeeding plays an important role in providing good gut bacteria to the age of two-and-a-half with little change after this point.

The study found that the bacterium, bifidobacterium, was abundant in breast milk that rapidly declined after breastfeeding stopped.

Bifidobacterium is one of the main bacteria used in probiotics, owing to its potential therapeutic properties.

"Targeting the nutrients in breast milk that encourages the growth of healthy bacteria in the infant gut, or providing probiotic containing Bifidobacterium, represents important avenues for future research at restoring the beneficial properties of breastfeeding," said Christopher Stewart, researcher from Newcastle University in the UK.

In addition, infants have been accustomed to a bacterial infection, and a loss of most of the Bifidobacterium, by phyla, a kind of bacteria, findings revealed.

"Because this diet is different from the diet, this rapid turnover in the bacterial community is likely to be a response to new food sources promoting the growth of a different community," said Stewart.

For the study, published in the journal Nature, the team analyzed 12,500 stool samples from 903 children, aged three to 46 months old.

Theses revealed that microbiome composition and diversity changed over time in three distinct phases: the developmental phase (three to 14 months), transitional phase (15-30 months) and stable phase (31 months onwards).

In addition, vaginal birth has been associated with a rise in bacteroid bacteria.

Also, siblings, exposure to pets, and geographical location were the factors in the differences between microbiome profiles.

"We know that the first few years of life are important for microbiome establishment," said Joseph Petrosino, Director at the Baylor. College of Medicine in the US.

(IANS Inputs)

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