Perinatal & Pediatric
Breast Milk Interacts with the Infant Gut Microbiome to Impact the Fecal Metabolome and Child Blood Pressure Tiange Liu* Tiange Liu Charisse Petersen Stuart Turvey Ni Zhao Noel T. Mueller
Importance: Breast milk and gut microbes may have mutually dependent associations with blood pressure (BP), as components like human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) rely on microbial conversion to BP-lowing metabolites (e.g., acetic acid). However, human studies on the joint effects of breastfeeding and gut microbes on childhood BP, an early-life risk factor for cardiovascular disease, remain limited.
Objective: To investigate if breastfeeding and the infant gut microbiome, particularly Bifidobacterium infantis—an efficient degrader of HMOs—interact to influence fecal metabolites and childhood BP.
Design: Prospective, population-based cohort study using data from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) study (2009-2012).
Exposures: Gut microbiome (measured by whole genome shotgun metagenomic sequencing), fecal metabolome, and breastfeeding status at 3 months and 1 year.
Outcome: Systolic blood pressure (SBP) at 3 and 5 years.
Results: Among 1,324 children (46.1% girls, 74.2% vaginally delivered, 74.0% white mothers), breastfeeding and B. infantis at 3 months interacted to influence gut microbial composition, fecal microbial metabolites, and SBP. Breastfeeding at 3 months, either exclusive or mixed with formula, was associated with lower SBP from 3 to 5 years in infants with B. infantis, but not in those without. Acetic acid increased with breastfeeding only in infants with B. infantis. These interactions were not observed at 1 year. Other gut microbes (e.g., Eggerthella lenta, Veillonella dispar) and fecal metabolites (e.g., creatinine, succinic acid) were also differentially associated with SBP depending on breastfeeding and B. infantis presence.
Conclusions: Early-life nutrition-microbe interactions, specifically between breastfeeding and B. infantis, shape the gut microbiome, metabolome and influence BP. Interventions such as co-supplementation of B. infantis with breast milk may help to lower childhood BP.