Investigators from Leiden University Zero in on Health Maintenance Organizations (Neutral oligosaccharides in feces of breastfed and formula-fed…

Investigators from Leiden University Zero in on Health Maintenance Organizations (Neutral oligosaccharides in feces of breastfed and formula-fed infants at different ages)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Investigators publish new report on Health Maintenance Organizations. According to news reporting originating in Leiden, Netherlands, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, "Beneficial effects have been proposed for human milk oligosaccharides (HMO), as deduced from in vitro and animal studies. To date, in vivo evidence of the link between certain oligosaccharide structures in milk and their consumption by infant gut microbiota is still missing, although likely."

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Leiden University, "Whereas many studies have described HMO patterns in human milk from larger cohorts, data on the excretion of HMO and possible metabolites produced in the infant gut are still very limited. From smaller-scale studies, an age-dependency according to infant gut maturation and microbiota adaptation has previously been hypothesized. To further investigate this, we profiled neutral fecal oligosaccharides from term-born infants who were exclusively breastfed, formula-fed or mixed-fed at the age of 2 months, and from a follow-up of a subgroup at 7 months of age (INFABIO study). Data on maternal antibiotic exposure was also included. Automated matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry analyses revealed the presence of HMO and metabolites in the feces of most, but not all breastfed infants at 2 months, with highly varying patterns that appeared not to differ with maternal antibiotics exposure. Formula-fed infants at 2 months and most of the breastfed infants at 7 months did not excrete HMO-like structures in their feces, the latter corresponding to the hypothesis of age-dependency."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Together with our previous results that were partly contradictory to what has been proposed by others, here, we suggest alternative explanations for the described association of oligosaccharide excretion with age and feeding type in infants below 7 months of age."

For more information on this research see: Neutral oligosaccharides in feces of breastfed and formula-fed infants at different ages. Glycobiology, 2016;26(12):1308-1316. Glycobiology can be contacted at: Oxford Univ Press Inc, Journals Dept, 2001 Evans Rd, Cary, NC 27513, USA. (Oxford University Press - www.oup.com/; Glycobiology - glycob.oxfordjournals.org)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting V. Dotz, Leiden University, Medical Center, Center Prote & Metabol, NL-2300 RC Leiden, Netherlands. Additional authors for this research include R. Adam, G. Lochnit, H. Schroten and C. Kunz (see also Health Maintenance Organizations).

Keywords for this news article include: Leiden, Netherlands, Europe, Health Maintenance Organizations, Health Insurance, HMO, Leiden University.

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