Infant stool, 5-HMO supplemented formula vs. control formula vs. breastfed
Breastfeeding is the optimal source of infant nutrition and confers established health benefits to the infant. Some of these benefits are associated with human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), a unique group of carbohydrates that comprises the third most abundant solid component of human milk. We previously conducted the first clinical study with five different HMOs (5HMO-mix), namely 2'FL, 3FL, LNT, 3'SL and 6'SL, at the natural concentration of 5.75 g/L, in infant formula and now present the microbial findings of the study. We analyzed infant fecal samples by shotgun metagenomic sequencing and found that 5HMO-mix supplementation changed the microbial composition already at Week 1 and that the changes were persistent at Week 16 into supplementation. The microbiota of the 5HMO-mix supplemented infants were relatively increased in bifidobacteria and specifically bifidobacteria able to produce aromatic lactic acids when compared to infants receiving control formula. We further analyzed the functional potential of the microbiome with gut metabolic modules (GMM) and found shared features between 5HMO-mix and breastfed infants such as relative enrichment in mucus degradation and a relative decrease in proteolytic GMMs related to amino acid degradation. In conclusion, supplementation with 5HMO-mix supports the infant fecal microbiome in the direction towards that of breastfed infants.