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The sugar in Mom’s milk makes the “good” bacteria grow

Posted by Dr Sandy on in Bacteria | 711 Views | 1 Response

breast milk is candy for good bacteriaBreast milk – Mother Nature’s perfect food…..

But for who ?

Breast milk is definitely filled with all the nutrients a developing human needs. But, not all the nutrients that are packaged in this SUPERFOOD are things that junior can use.

Breast milk is not just feeding baby, but baby and friends.

These friends are the key to health – making the “right” friends, protects from many troublesome health problems, including allergies and obesity down the line.

Food glorious food

The “baby unfriendly” ingredients in human breast milk is a group of complex sugars, collectively referred to as the oligosaccharides. These sugars appear floating freely in the milk, as well as in a form where they are attached to proteins, known as glycoproteins.

Human babies don’t come with a set of enzymes able to use these sugars.

But several species of bacteria living in the human gut, can eat the free sugars.

A team from UC-Davis wondered if some of these bacteria, were also able to chow down on the sugars (glycans) attached to human proteins.

NOTE : The sugar structure of human proteins is unique to humans – we always have the following pattern, Man3GlcNAc2(?1–6Fuc) of sugars on our N-glycosylated proteins. Every animal has their own special sugar code.

Special enzymes for special bacteria

The researchers discovered that many of the bacterial species associated with the human gut, have the ability to eat these unique human sugars.

The special skill arises because the bacteria have the Endo-ß-N-acetylglucosaminidase enzyme. The enzyme appeared in several gut bacteria of the Bifodobacterium family.

Being able to chow down on these unique sugars, should give these Bifidobacterium the edge inside the human gut.

And this is good news, Bifidobacteria, are among the good guys.

Give the good guys a break

The gut is a tough neighbourhood – there good guys and bad guys, fighting it out for the a piece of the action. It is a numbers game.

Cultivating the good guys is a good health move – these little guys are key to good body chemistry.

Mother Nature has formulated breast milk so that it helps the good guys get a head start in the gut. So if you can………….. feed baby and friends the BEST for BETTER BODY CHEMISTRY that will last a lifetime.

Endo-N-acetylglucosaminidases from infant-gut associated bifidobacteria release complex N-glycans from human milk glycoproteins. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics (2012) 11:775-785. Daniel Garrido, Charles Nwosu, Santiago Ruiz-Moyano, Danielle Aldredge, J. Bruce German, Carlito B. Lebrilla and David A. Mills.  

If you are an expectant Mom or know someone that is – invite them to participate  in our free e-course…….Better body chemistry for expectant momsIt includes Tips and ideas to help pregnant Moms create Better Body Chemistry, so they raise a HAPPY HEALTHY little one.

 

 
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Further reading

HIV going down because of peptides in breast milk baby powered up on morning milk meat eating brain steaks ahead
Breast milk includes a powerful anti-retroviral Mother Nature’s milk blend changes on the hour In the big scheme of things the human brain is a meat eater

The 7 Big Spoons™…. are master switches that turn health on.

balance eicosanoids rein in insulin dial down stress sleep vitamin D microflora think
Balance Eicosanoids Rein in insulin Dial down stress Sleep ! Increase Vit D Culivate microflora Think champion

Hire Dr Sandy from a Spoonful of Science to be the keynote speaker at your next event.

Did you learn something new or do you have a different perspective ? I’d love to hear from you so post me a comment below

Posted in Bacteria | Tagged bacteria, bifidobacteria, breast milk, glycoproteins, gut, microflora, milk, mother nature, sugars

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