On Tuesday, a study led by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) determined that exclusive breastfeeding is associated with a lower abundance and diversity of antibiotic resistance genes in the gut of infants during the first months of life.
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The research, published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine, identifies for the first time the role of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) as modulators of the early development of the infant gut resistome.
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the main global public health challenges. While it has traditionally been linked to antibiotic use, science shows that gut bacteria begin to acquire and establish resistance genes from the earliest moments of life.
Human milk, in addition to providing nutrients, supplies bioactive compounds capable of influencing the future health of the baby, shaping the configuration of the microbial community and the presence of these genes.
The study, coordinated by the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC), analyzed fecal samples from 57 one-month-old infants. These samples belong to a Spanish cohort that follows mothers and their babies until the age of six to study the evolution of the gut microbiota. Samples of breast milk were also analyzed, and the results were validated in a Dutch cohort with data from 199 infants.
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The analysis demonstrated that the type of delivery and feeding are determining factors in the composition of the resistome. Infants born by cesarean section showed differences in the diversity of resistance genes compared to those born vaginally, while exclusive breastfeeding was directly linked to a lower abundance of these genes.
María Carmen Collado, a researcher at IATA, highlighted that “promoting breastfeeding appears to be an effective strategy for reducing antimicrobial resistance genes present in intestinal bacterial communities during a critical stage in microbiota formation.”
One of the study’s main contributions is identifying the relationship between certain bioactive components of breast milk and the composition of the infant resistome. The team focused on HMOs, complex molecules that are not digested by the baby but act as a specific food source for beneficial bacteria such as those of the genus Bifidobacterium.
The concentration of these oligosaccharides varies between individuals depending on their secretory status, a genetic characteristic related to the FUT2 gene. Infants fed milk from secretory mothers have a higher presence of beneficial bacteria of the genus Bifidobacterium, which use these oligosaccharides as an energy source.
“HMOs act as ecological modulators of the gut microbiota: they promote the growth of microorganisms capable of using them and can limit the spread of bacteria carrying certain resistance genes,” explained Collado. The team noted that further analysis and more extensive longitudinal studies are needed to understand the mechanisms and determine the scope of future interventions.
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