Composition and Variation of the Human Milk Microbiota Are Influenced by Maternal and Early-Life Factors

Shirin Moossavi1, Shadi Sepehri2, Bianca Robertson3

  • 1Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada; Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, Pediatrics and Child Health, Winnipeg, MB, Canada; Developmental Origins of Chronic Diseases in Children Network (DEVOTION), Winnipeg, MB, Canada; Digestive Oncology Research Center, Digestive Disease Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Cell Host & Microbe
|February 15, 2019
PubMed

Breastmilk contains a complex community of bacteria that may help seed the infant gut microbiota. The composition and determinants of milk microbiota are poorly understood. Among 393 mother-infant dyads from the CHILD cohort, we found that milk microbiota at 3-4 months postpartum was dominated by inversely correlated Proteobacteria and Firmicutes, and exhibited discrete compositional patterns. Milk microbiota composition and diversity were associated with maternal factors (BMI, parity, and mode of delivery), breastfeeding practices, and other milk components in a sex-specific manner. Causal modeling identified mode of breastfeeding as a key determinant of milk microbiota composition. Specifically, providing pumped breastmilk was consistently associated with multiple microbiota parameters including enrichment of potential pathogens and depletion of bifidobacteria. Further, these data support the retrograde inoculation hypothesis, whereby the infant oral cavity impacts the milk microbiota. Collectively, these results identify features and determinants of human milk microbiota composition, with potential implications for infant health and development.

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