Breastfeeding Produces More Healthy Bacteria in Infants

A new study has revealed that breastfeeding infants for nine months of age increases the presence of healthy bacteria in children's gastrointestinal tract.

This ultimately helps in making the child strong as he gets a healthy immune system. The number of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria goes up which aid in the development of a healthy immune system.

Researchers from Technical University of Denmark examined gut microbiota in the faeces of 300 children at 9, 18 and 36 months of age. According to the report, the nutritional factors showed that the greatest impact on the composition of the gut flora at the time of cessation of breast feeding.

"This is to our knowledge the first study to characterise the gut microbiota in such a large cohort of children for this duration," said corresponding author Tine Rask Licht of the Technical University of Denmark.

Researchers also found that those enterotypes, which are typically stable in adults, were not always the same in children until the age of 36 months.

Source: Medindia