About 7 percent of all Danish children are born prematurely. This is of significant importance not only to the child's development, but it also affects the mother's body that -- unexpectedly -- has to produce the necessary nutrition for the newborn baby.
Research has previously demonstrated that breast milk from women who give birth prematurely is different from breast milk from women who give birth to full-term babies. The examinations focused on the milk's content of macro nutrients such as protein, fat and carbohydrates -- and it has been documented that milk from women who give premature birth typically has a higher content of these nutrients compared to milk from pregnant women who give birth after week 37. Thus, the milk partly compensates for the fact that the baby is not fully developed and also protects the infant by ensuring healthy colonization of beneficial bacteria in the intestine.
Now, new research from Aarhus University shows that breast milk from women who give premature birth does not only have a different composition of macro nutrients; the composition of micro nutrients (metabolites) also differs. Postdoc at Department of Food Science, Aarhus University, Ulrik Sundekilde is responsible for the examination based on advanced and very detailed analysis techniques -- so-called global metabolomics -- and he explains:
"Breast milk is the best example of customized food that we know -- i.e. that the infant gets the exact nutrition that it needs. Therefore, the question is if nature has incorporated a kind of compensation in order to ensure an optimum nutrition for the pre-term infant," says Ulrik Kræmer Sundekilde.
Full story in Science Daily.
Comments (0)