Original ArticlesHuman milk oligosaccharides are associated with protection against diarrhea in breast-fed infants☆
Section snippets
Study design
The present study involves the analysis of data and banked samples from 93 mother-infant pairs who had participated in a larger cohort study conducted as part of an ongoing National Institutes of Health-funded program project on human milk factors and infant health. This cohort was established to test, over time, emerging laboratory-generated hypotheses regarding protection by specific human milk factors against specific causes of diarrhea.
From March 1988 through December 1991, a cohort of 316
Study population
The 93 mother-infant pairs in this study were monitored for 857 breast-feeding infant-months and 765 post–breast-feeding infant-months between birth and 2 years of age. These 93 mother-infant pairs were compared with the 183 mothers in the cohort who were not included in this study but who had breast-fed their infants for at least 2 weeks; they were comparable regarding the incidence of infant diarrhea during breast-feeding and all sociodemographic, hygiene, and infant factors (Table I), except
Discussion
In this study of breast-fed Mexican infants, we found that low levels of specific 2-linked fucosylated oligosaccharides in human milk were significantly associated with increased rates of pathogen-specific infant diarrhea. C jejuni and caliciviruses, excluding co-infections, together accounted for 20% of all diarrhea episodes in our study population. A low level of 2′-FL as a percent of milk oligosaccharide was associated with a high rate of C jejuni diarrhea in breast-fed infants. Similarly,
Acknowledgements
We appreciate the dedication and support of L. Cervantes, F. Tuz-Dzib, H. Ortega, K. Newburg, the study field-workers and nurses, and the mothers and infants of San Pedro Martir. We also thank Drs T. Cleary, S. Daniels, and R. Tsang for their thoughtful review of the manuscript.
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Supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD13021) and Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation.