Maternal breast-milk and intestinal bifidobacteria guide the compositional development of the Bifidobacterium microbiota in infants at risk of allergic disease

  1. M.-M. Grönlund1,2,
  2. M. Gueimonde3,
  3. K. Laitinen3,4,
  4. G. Kociubinski3,
  5. T. Grönroos3,
  6. S. Salminen3,
  7. E. Isolauri1,2

Article first published online: 18 OCT 2007

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.2007.02849.x

Issue

Clinical & Experimental Allergy

Clinical & Experimental Allergy

Volume 37, Issue 12, pages 1764–1772, December 2007

Additional Information

How to Cite

Grönlund, M.-M., Gueimonde, M., Laitinen, K., Kociubinski, G., Grönroos, T., Salminen, S. and Isolauri, E. (2007), Maternal breast-milk and intestinal bifidobacteria guide the compositional development of the Bifidobacterium microbiota in infants at risk of allergic disease. Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 37: 1764–1772. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.2007.02849.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Pediatrics, Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, Finland,

  2. 2

    Department of Pediatrics,

  3. 3

    Functional Foods Forum

  4. 4

    Department of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

*Correspondence: Minna-Maija Grönlund, Department of Pediatrics, Turku University Central Hospital, Kiinamyllynkatu 4-8, 20520 Turku, Finland. E-mail: mingro@utu.fi

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 18 OCT 2007
  2. Article first published online: 18 OCT 2007
  3. Submitted 5 February 2007; revised 25 July 2007; accepted 31 August 2007

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Keywords:

  • allergy;
  • bifidobacteria;
  • breast-milk;
  • colonization;
  • infant;
  • intestine;
  • microbiota;
  • normal microbiota;
  • transfer

Summary

Background The sources and the impact of maternal bacteria on the initial inoculum of the intestinal microflora of newborn infants remain elusive.

Objective To assess the association between maternal breast-milk and fecal bifidobacteria and infants' fecal bifidobacteria.

Methods Sixty-one mother–infant pairs were included, special emphasis being placed on the maternal allergic status. Bifidobacteria were analysed by a direct PCR method in fecal samples from mothers at 30–35 weeks of gestation and from infants at 1 month of age and from breast-milk samples 1 month post-partum.

Results Fecal Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Bifidobacterium bifidum colonization frequencies and counts among mother–infant pairs correlated significantly (P=0.005 and 0.02 for frequencies, respectively, and P=0.002 and 0.01 for counts, respectively). Only infants of allergic, atopic mothers were colonized with B. adolescentis. Each of the breast-milk samples contained bifidobacteria [median 1.4 × 103 bacterial cells/mL; interquartile range (IQR) 48.7–3.8 × 103]. Bifidobacterium longum was the most frequently detected species in breast-milk. Allergic mothers had significantly lower amounts of bifidobacteria in breast-milk compared with non-allergic mothers [median 1.3 × 103 bacterial cells/mL (IQR 22.4–3.0 × 103) vs. 5.6 × 103 bacterial cells/mL (1.8 × 103–1.8 × 104), respectively, (P=0.004)], and their infants had concurrently lower counts of bifidobacteria in feces [3.9 × 108 bacterial cells/g (IQR 6.5 × 106–1.5 × 109) in infants of allergic mothers, vs. 2.5 × 109 bacterial cells/g (6.5 × 108–3.2 × 1010) in infants of non-allergic mothers, P=0.013].

Conclusions Breast-milk contains significant numbers of bifidobacteria and the maternal allergic status further deranges the counts of bifidobacteria in breast-milk. Maternal fecal and breast-milk bifidobacterial counts impacted on the infants' fecal Bifidobacterium levels. Breast-milk bacteria should thus be considered an important source of bacteria in the establishment of infantile intestinal microbiota.

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