[Structural and functional aspects of oligosaccharides in human milk]

About a century ago, pediatricians observed that in feces of breast-fed infants, compared to those of bottle-fed infants, Bifidobacterium bifidum was the predominant microorganism. It was shown thereafter that aminosugar-containing oligosaccharides are growth factors for a specific strain of Bifidobacterium. Meanwhile, more than 130 lactose-derived oligosaccharides have been identified in human milk. Some of these oligosaccharides like Lacto-N-Tetraose and Lacto-N-Fucopentaose I and II do not occur in minute amounts but in concentrations up to 1-2 g/L. As the total amount of complex oligosaccharides is between 3-6 g/L those components have to be considered as major human milk constituents. There is striking evidence that human milk oligosaccharides are potent inhibitors of bacterial adhesion to epithelial surfaces, an initial stage of infective processes. Therefore, these oligosaccharides are considered to be soluble receptor analogues of epithelial cell surfaces participating in the non-immunological defense system of human milk-fed infants.