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Breastfeeding Contributes to Physiological Immune Programming in the Newborn
Alberto Camacho-Morales1,2, Mario Caba3, Martín García-Juárez1,2
1Departamento de Bioquímica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico.
Insights
Breastfeeding is crucial for infant immune development. It provides bioactive molecules that help establish a healthy gut microbiome and train the immune system, preventing future chronic diseases.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Developmental Biology
- Microbiology
Background:
- The first 1,000 days of life are critical for development, with early stimuli influencing long-term health.
- Maternal nutrition impacts fetal development through fetal programming, affecting non-communicable disease risk.
- Defective fetal programming, often due to poor maternal diet, can negatively affect infant health and immune function.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the critical role of breastfeeding in infant immune programming.
- To highlight the immunological benefits of breast milk's bioactive components.
- To emphasize the gut microbiome's role in immune system development and how breastfeeding supports it.
Main Methods:
- This is a review article, synthesizing existing research on fetal programming, maternal nutrition, and breastfeeding.
- Literature search focused on immunological biocomponents in breast milk and their effects on infant gut microbiome and immune response.
- Analysis of studies examining the impact of maternal diet on breast milk composition and infant health outcomes.
Main Results:
- Breast milk contains bioactive molecules essential for immune maturation, organ development, and gut microbial colonization.
- Breastfeeding promotes a well-trained immune system and efficient metabolic settings in newborns.
- Negative fetal programming due to maternal high-fat/sugar diets alters breast milk, compromising infant immune profiles and gut colonization.
Conclusions:
- Breastfeeding is a key postnatal intervention to counteract defective fetal programming and prevent chronic diseases.
- The immunological components in breast milk facilitate proper immune programming and gut microbiome establishment.
- Breastfeeding represents a critical window of opportunity to secure a robust immunological response in newborns.
Abstract:
The first 1,000 days in the life of a human being are a vulnerable stage where early stimuli may program adverse health outcomes in future life. Proper maternal nutrition before and during pregnancy modulates the development of the fetus, a physiological process known as fetal programming. Defective programming promotes non-communicable chronic diseases in the newborn which might be prevented by postnatal interventions such as breastfeeding. Breast milk provides distinct bioactive molecules that contribute to immune maturation, organ development, and healthy microbial gut colonization, and also secures a proper immunological response that protects against infection and inflammation in the newborn. The gut microbiome provides the most critical immune microbial stimulation in the newborn in early life, allowing a well-trained immune system and efficient metabolic settings in healthy subjects. Conversely, negative fetal programming by exposing mothers to diets rich in fat and sugar has profound effects on breast milk composition and alters the immune profiles in the newborn. At this new stage, newborns become vulnerable to immune compromise, favoring susceptibility to defective microbial gut colonization and immune response. This review will focus on the importance of breastfeeding and its immunological biocomponents that allow physiological immune programming in the newborn. We will highlight the importance of immunological settings by breastfeeding, allowing proper microbial gut colonization in the newborn as a window of opportunity to secure effective immunological response.
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