Babies that are fed formula have more E. Coli (a potential pathogen) in their stool that babies who are fed breast milk. Breast-fed babies have mostly bifidobacteria (a benign commensal) in their stool. Breast milk differs from formula in having more oligosaccharides (dietary fiber) and a different mixture of fatty acids (more short chain fatty acids).

Here is a news report about breast oligosaccharides:

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/09/08/loc_loc1amilk.html

Breast milk seems to be the perfect food for babies in part because it lowers the population of pathogenic bacteria in the infant gut. In fact, breast fed babies have a lower death rate from diarrheal diseases.

Based on what you learned in lecture, would you predict that breast fed babies would have more or less visceral fat accumulation than formula fed babies? What would you predict about the incidence of insulin resistance in formula-fed babies compared to breast-fed babies and why?

Categories: 1

Joe Alcock

Emergency Physician, Educator, Researcher, interested in the microbiome, evolution, and medicine