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Sugars in breast milk prevent disease in babies and could curb premature births, according to Vanderbilt University research published by the American Chemical Society.
Some of breast milk sugars work so well they even help the child in the womb, the university team said, findings that throw up the prospect of doctors “someday” being able to better help “avoid preterm births or complications without the need for additional antibiotics.”
The team said that compounds in mother’s milk, such as oligosaccharides (HMOs), have antibacterial effects that help stop germs such as Group B streptococcus (GBS), which, if left unhindered, can cause neonatal pneumonia or preterm birth.
While antibiotics are available to treat related conditions, over-use can contribute to the widening health challenge posed by antimicrobial resistance, which kills anything from half a million to 6.5 million people a year, according to scientific or official estimates.
Around 10% of pregnancies in the US do not go full term, with 40% of those early births caused by infections. Worldwide, the number is 15 million a year, or 11.5% of all births.
But though sugar in breast milk is good for mother and baby, the same does not apply when it comes to older women and sugar in drinks.
Post-menopausal women who “consumed one or more sugar-sweetened beverages per day had a higher incidence of liver cancer and death from chronic liver disease” than those with lower intakes, according to research from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, which was published by the American Medical Association.
