Abstract
Purpose of reviewThis narrative review presents the current state of available evidence regarding the role of breast milk carbohydrates on infant outcomes, with a primary focus on growth and body composition.Recent findingsTo date, there is a paucity of available data that exists in this realm. The current literature focuses on the role of two carbohydrate fractions in breast milk, and their relationships with infant outcomes in the first six months of life: oligosaccharides and fructose. A small but growing body of research indicates robust associations of both oligosaccharides and fructose in breast milk with infant weight and length, as well as bone, fat, and lean mass. There is also emerging evidence to support the role of these same carbohydrate fractions in breast milk in infant cognitive development.SummaryThe present state of the science suggests that oligosaccharides and fructose in breast milk play a role in infant growth and body composition and introduces intriguing associations of these two carbohydrate fractions with infant cognitive development as well.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 277-281 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 1 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:D.A.F. and E.W.D. are supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01HD080444. P.K.B. is supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K99HD098288. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. All rights reserved.
Keywords
- breast milk
- fructose
- human milk oligosaccharides