Breastfeeding is the gold standard in infant nutrition. Studies have shown that exclusively breastfed children benefit from better immunity and optimal growth and development.
get the science of expertsAccording to the “Convention on the Rights of the Child”, every infant and child have the right to good nutrition. Breastmilk is the ideal food for infants. The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months.
The first 1000 days - referring to the period from conception to 2 years of age – is a crucial period for immune, endocrine, metabolic and neural developmental pathways. Any adverse insult in this period, such as suboptimal feeding, may contribute to lifelong and intergenerational deficits in growth and development.
Emerging perspective of human developmental biology includes the microbiota (and the microbiome) that reside within the human body. The microbial establishment and succession during early life plays a critical role in the maturation of developmental pathways, which may lead to later-life health impacts.
Beyond the first 1000 days period, and more globally, adequate nutrition during infancy and childhood is essential not only to ensure that the child’s nutritional needs are met for healthy growth and development, but also provides a window of opportunity for interventions to reduce the burden of noncommunicable diseases in later-life.
The gut microbiota is a highly complex community which evolves and adapts to its host over a lifetime. It has been described as a virtual organ owing to the myriad of functions it performs, including the production of bioactive metabolites, regulation of immunity, energy homeostasis and protection against pathogens.
This study aimed to establish a mother and child cohort in the Chinese population, and investigate human breastmilk (HBM) composition and its relationship with maternal body mass index (BMI) and infant growth during the first 3 months of life.
Modulation of the human gut microbiota through probiotics, prebiotics and dietary fibre are recognised strategies to improve health and prevent disease. Yet we are only beginning to understand the impact of these interventions on the gut microbiota and the physiological consequences for the human host.
Factors affecting milk and milk fraction composition, such as cream, are poorly understood, with most research and human health application associated with cow cream. In this study, proteomic and lipidomic analyses were performed on cow, goat, sheep and Bubalus bubalis, bulk milk cream samples.
Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis is a prevalent beneficial bacterium that colonizes the human neonatal gut and is uniquely adapted to efficiently use human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) as a carbon and energy source.
Recent research has highlighted that HMOs have various functional roles to play in infant development. These sugars act as prebiotics by promoting growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria thereby generating short-chain fatty acids which are critical for gut health.
Bifidobacteria are associated with a host of health benefits and are typically dominant in the gut microbiota of healthy, breast-fed infants. A key adaptation, facilitating the establishment of these species, is their ability to consume particular sugars, known as human milk oligosaccharides (HMO), which are abundantly found in breastmilk.
Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are known to positively influence infant health. Extensive variation exists in the levels, diversity, and complexity of oligosaccharides in the milk of a lactating mother.
Cow’s milk allergy is a common diagnosis in early life. It consists of an allergic reaction to the protein present in cow’s milk and manifests as a variety of symptoms such as skin reactions and digestive issues which commonly develop in infants. In this webinar, Prof. Christophe Dupont, from the University of Paris Descartes, addresses the clinical symptoms and the treatments for this condition.
Dr. Christophe Dupont has been a Paediatric Gastroenterologist (GI) since 1980, and has specialised in endoscopy, with a focus on endoscopy in neonates and allergic children. He was formerly head of the ambulatory paediatric GI department at Hospital Necker in Paris and Emeritus professor at Paris-Descartes University. Dr. Dupont is now president of the Committee of Nutrition of the French Society of Pediatrics and he is currently working in the field of pediatric GI and severe food allergy, diagnosis and treatment. He is also the co-founder of the company DBV Technologies. He is the principal investigator in numerous clinical trials, in the field of gastroesophageal reflux, diarrhea, constipation, infant nutrition and food allergy. Dr. Dupont has published over 300 publications in peer-reviewed papers.
Conception, gestation, and lactation are critical periods for human development. The exposure to unhealthy dietary patterns, excess weight gain and other environmental factors results in a higher risk of pregnancy complications affecting both mothers and infants.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most common disorder of the gut-brain interactions diagnosed in gastroenterology in children and adults. In addition to the increased bowel reactions such as cramps and diarrhea, pain receptors seem to be more sensitive.
Diet remains one of the main drivers of the obesity pandemic, in particular the overconsumption of calorically dense palatable foods in early life. There is increasing interest to further our understanding of the pathways in the brain that drive excess unhealthy food consumption and how they are established from the onset.
The exact causes linking prenatal and early life under- or over-nutrition with a higher risk of obesity and metabolic disease in later life remain uncertain. Previous work shows that the human body can adapt to changing nutrient availability through epigenetic mechanisms, for which plasticity is especially pronounced in early life thereby increasing the adaptability of newborns to their environment.
Stressors during childhood including parental neglect and poverty, increase risk to develop depression and anxiety disorders (Heim and Binder, 2012, O'Leary and Cryan, 2013). Biological sex is also a risk factor for these disorders.
Our overarching hypothesis is that the behavioral reprogramming induced by peripubertal stress is mediated by decreased signaling of the adipokine eNampt and subsequent impairment of the NAD+/SIRT1 pathway in the NAc.
Better understanding of the relationship between dietary inflammation and adiposity in childhood may be important in the context of identifying modifiable behaviours for early prevention of childhood obesity. In this project we characterised childhood dietary inflammation using the recently described child dietary inflammatory index (C-DII).
The objective of this project is to assess the efficacy of dietary fibers, short chain fatty acids and tryptophan metabolites, and of the bacteria species able to process fibers and tryptophan, in the prevention of childhood obesity and associated risks.
This study will provide valuable information on the effects of pregnancy stress and PPD on maternal caregiving, the maternal brain-gut axis, and how these factors are altered by probiotic treatment.
Studies suggest that obesity could be ‘transmitted’ from mother to child. Since maternal microbiota is the main determinant of child intestine colonization, the transmission of a maternal microbiota "signature" of obesity to her child during perinatal period, could potentially affect his metabolism.
Early gut microbiota establishment is suggested to be an important factor for the health of the infant and future adult. In this context, we propose to identify early intestinal microbiota signatures or predictive microbiota profiles in children of the occurrence of overweight and obesity.
Raising awareness of maternal and infant health to parents is an important duty of health care professionals. We created the parents corner to provide you with insightful resources to help you in your mission.
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