Article

New Research Uncovers Benefits of Breastfeeding for Asthma Prevention

Gut health

5 min read

A recent study demonstrates the advantages of breastfeeding in lowering the incidence of paediatric asthma after antibiotic treatment. According to the study, breastfed infants had a threefold reduced chance of developing asthma after antibiotic treatment than those who were not. Fucosylated human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), one of the bioactive components of breastmilk, were positively linked to the enrichment of Bifidobacter infantis (B. infantis) in the infant gut microbiota. This was associated with a lower incidence of asthma. The study adds to the understanding of how HMOs found in breastmilk, and B. infantis can protect kids against asthma and pave the way for the development of novel treatments to promote infant gut health and lower asthma risk in children.

Research reveals that breastfeeding can shield infants from asthma risk due to antibiotic exposure.

Researchers found that children who were not breastfed during antibiotic treatment had a 3-fold higher risk of asthma compared to those who were breastfed during antibiotic treatment. The protective effect of breastmilk against asthma was found to be associated with its ability to rebalance the infant gut microbiome, especially through the enrichment of the gut microbiome with Bifidobacterium infantis (B. infantis).
B. infantis is also known to have beneficial effects on the intestinal and immune development of the host.
The study included 2521 children from the CHILD study, a longitudinal cohort conducted on the infants recruited prenatally across different cities of Canada. This study was an extension of the previous research conducted by the researchers.

Breastfeeding and antibiotics have opposing effects on the infant gut microbiome.

Researchers performed shotgun metagenomic sequencing of the stool samples from 1338 children at two-time points — one at a median age of 3 months and the other at a median age of 12 months.
The results showed that breastmilk has an opposite impact on the functional components of the infant gut microbiome as compared to antibiotics.
Hence, breastmilk could help to reverse the impact of antibiotics on the infant gut microbiome associated with the risk of developing childhood asthma.

Components of breastmilk are associated with a reduced risk of asthma.

Human milk has been known to support suitable host-microbe interactions in infants majorly due to its complex bioactive composition. This composition supports infant physiological, immune, and microbiome development.
This study examined human milk data from 561 mothers. Researchers identified 4 fucosylated human milk oligosaccharides (DSLNT, FDSLNH, LNFPII, and LNFPIII)* that were positively associated with functional microbiome diversity of infants that could reduce the risk of asthma.

A new direction for reducing the risk of asthma for non-breastfed infants

The mechanisms that may support B. infantis colonisation and healthy microbiome diversity found in the study will help support research into microbe-based therapies to aid in the maintenance and restoration of the infant microbiome to reduce the burden of asthma.
These results give a new direction to the further study where supplementation of human milk oligosaccharides along with B. infantis can be studied for post-antibiotics infant gut microbiome recovery in non-breastfed infants.
Thus, this study adds to the set of evidence that supports the clinical recommendation of breastfeeding to reduce the incidence of paediatric asthma, especially in infants who are treated with antibiotics.

*DSLNT—Disialyllacto-N-Tetrose; FDSLNH—fucosyl-disialyllacto-N-hexose; LNFPII—lacto-N-fucopentaose II; LNFPIII—lacto-N-fucopentaose III

Reference
Dai DLY, Petersen C, Hoskinson C, et al. Breastfeeding enrichment of B. longum subsp. infantis mitigates the effect of antibiotics on the microbiota and childhood asthma risk.
Med (N Y). 2023;4(2):92–112.e5.

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