Breast Milk: A Source of Functional Compounds with Potential Application in Nutrition and Therapy

Abstract

Breast milk is an unbeatable food that covers all the nutritional requirements of an infant in its different stages of growth up to six months after birth. In addition, breastfeeding benefits both maternal and child health. Increasing knowledge has been acquired regarding the composition of breast milk. Epidemiological studies and epigenetics allow us to understand the possible lifelong effects of breastfeeding. In this review we have compiled some of the components with clear functional activity that are present in human milk and the processes through which they promote infant development and maturation as well as modulate immunity. Milk fat globule membrane, proteins, oligosaccharides, growth factors, milk exosomes, or microorganisms are functional components to use in infant formulas, any other food products, nutritional supplements, nutraceuticals, or even for the development of new clinical therapies. The clinical evaluation of these compounds and their commercial exploitation are limited by the difficulty of isolating and producing them on an adequate scale. In this work we focus on the compounds produced using milk components from other species such as bovine, transgenic cattle capable of expressing components of human breast milk or microbial culture engineering.

Dificuldade no aleitamento materno exclusivo no alojamento conjunto: revisão integrativa

“…O leite humano contém centenas de moléculas bioativas que protegem o recém-nascido contra infecções e inflamações e contribuem para a maturação imunológica, o desenvolvimento de órgãos e a colonização microbiana saudável. Em comparação com a alimentação com fórmula, a amamentação tem sido associada à diminuição da morbidade e mortalidade em bebês e à menor incidência de infecções gastrointestinais e doenças inflamatórias, respiratórias e alérgicas (5)(6)(7) , favorecimento do desenvolvimento cognitivo e psicomotor e do adequado desenvolvimento de estruturas da face, entre outros benefícios para o bebê (8) . O colostro, leite de baixo volume secretado nos primeiros dias, contém o fator epidérmico de crescimento, que acelera a maturação da mucosa intestinal, e fatores imunológicos bioativos que conferem proteção imunológica ao lactente, prevenindo a colonização intestinal por micro-organismos patogênicos (9) .…”

Next-generation biomonitoring of the early-life chemical exposome in neonatal and infant development

“…This might be also true for other toxicant classes. Most importantly, the benefit of antibodies, growth factors and bioactive compounds including oligosaccharides in breast milk must be explicitly highlighted 55 .…”

Antiviral properties of whey proteins and their activity against SARS-CoV-2 infection

“…However, milk continues to be a basic food also for adults, due to other properties (e.g., antimicrobial, immunological and antitumorigenic), which can be more important than the nutritional function ( Gill and Cross, 2000 , Clare et al, 2003 , Kim et al, 2020 ). Indeed, most of the studies in the nutraceutical field are focusing on milk components and their derivatives in the attempt to exploit milk bioactive molecules for diseases’ treatment and prevention, and to find new accessible and health compatible drugs or to improve conventional therapies ( Galley and Besner, 2020 , Davies et al, 2018 , Dybdahl et al, 2021 , Kennedy et al, 1995 , Sánchez et al, 2021 ).…”