FLICKR, FELIZIDAD_0109158Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), complex carbohydrates found in breast milk that are known to influence the developing infant immune system, may affect a baby’s weight and fat gain, according to a study by Michael Goran, director of the Childhood Obesity Research Center at the University of the Southern California (USC) Keck School of Medicine, and his colleagues.
“At 6 months of age, higher breast milk levels of [the HMOs] LNFPII and DSLNT were each associated with approximately 1 pound of greater fat mass,” study coauthor Tanya Alderete, a postdoc at USC, said in a press release. But other HMOs had the opposite effect, she added. “Increased amounts of a HMO called LNFPI in breast milk [were] associated with about a 1 pound lower infant weight and fat mass.” The researchers published their results last week (October 28) in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Previous research has yielded mixed results with regard to the effects of breastfeeding on obesity. Looking at 71 studies, Goran’s group found that breastfeeding was beneficial, reducing the risk of excess weight and obesity by about 10 percent, ...
