Improved feeding tolerance and growth are linked to increased gut microbial community diversity in very-low-birth-weight infants fed mother's own milk compared with donor breast milkOriginal paper
Karen Pendergrass is a microbiome researcher specializing in microbiome-targeted interventions (MBTIs). She systematically analyzes scientific literature to identify microbial patterns, develop hypotheses, and validate interventions. As the founder of the Microbiome Signatures Database, she bridges microbiome research with clinical practice. In 2012, based on her own investigative research, she became the first documented case of FMT for Celiac Disease, four years before the first published case study.
Read MoreWhat was studied?
Researchers compared gut microbiota development, growth, and feeding tolerance in very-low-birth-weight infants fed an exclusively human milk diet, either primarily mother's own milk (MOM) or donor milk (DM).
How was it studied?
125 VLBW infants at Texas Children's Hospital were grouped by percentage of MOM versus DM in feeds, with DM-derived fortifier for all. Weekly stool samples over six weeks (546 total) underwent 16S rRNA sequencing, alongside weekly anthropometric measurements.
What did they find?
MOM-fed infants (91 percent MOM on average) had greater gut microbial diversity than DM-fed infants (14 percent MOM), with more Bifidobacterium and Bacteroides by weeks four and six. DM-fed infants showed more Staphylococcus. MOM feeding was linked to a 60 percent reduction in feeding intolerance and greater weight gain.
Why it matters
An exclusively human milk diet, even when donor milk predominates, was associated with low rates of necrotizing enterocolitis and gastrointestinal morbidity, but mother's own milk conferred added benefits for microbial diversity, feeding tolerance, and growth.