Maternal obesity alters breast milk composition in ways that may predispose infants to excess adiposity. Although maternal exercise during lactation has been associated with favorable shifts in milk metabolites in humans, the mechanisms by which exercise remodels the mammary gland and milk lipid profile to influence offspring metabolism remain unclear. We developed a mouse model incorporating daily moderate treadmill exercise only during lactation, using lean (LN) and diet-induced obese (OB)...

The assessment of body composition has long been a fundamental component of research and is gaining increasing adoption in clinical practice. This growing interest has drawn new professionals to the field and increased emphasis on its clinical relevance and applications. However, the diversity of assessment techniques and inconsistent terminology create challenges, highlighting the urgent need for harmonized approaches across research and healthcare settings. Commonly employed methods include...

CONCLUSIONS: Mothers with a GDM diagnosis had higher milk concentrations of LNFP III and 6'SL, and 6'SL was in turn associated with increased infant growth rate, but neither HMO was associated with differential infant gut microbial abundances. The results suggest that the link between 6'SL and faster infant growth, if causal, occurs via mechanisms independent of the infant gut microbiome. This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03301753.

Background: Human milk hyaluronan (HA), a glycosaminoglycan with barrier-protective and immunomodulatory functions, may be influenced by maternal characteristics. The effects of maternal obesity and acute dietary intake on milk HA concentrations remain unclear. Methods: This secondary analysis included 35 lactating mothers (n = 19 normal weight [NW], n = 16 obese [OB]) at 6 weeks postpartum who participated in two separate, but standardized, protocols: (1) Study One, which consisted of hourly...

The establishment of the gut microbiome in early life is critical for healthy infant development. Although human milk is recommended as sole nutrition for the infant, little is known about how variation in the milk microbiome shapes the microbial communities in the infant gut. Here, we quantified the similarity between the maternal milk and the infant gut microbiomes using 507 metagenomic samples collected from 195 mother-infant pairs at one, three, and six months postpartum. Microbial taxonomic...

Maternal obesity alters breast milk composition in ways that may predispose infants to excess adiposity. While maternal exercise during lactation has been associated with favorable shifts in milk metabolites in humans, the mechanisms by which exercise remodels the mammary gland and milk lipid profile to influence offspring metabolism remain unclear. We developed a mouse model incorporating daily moderate treadmill exercise during lactation, indirect calorimetry, stable isotope tracer...

Body composition assessment is widely used in both research and clinical practice, yet confusion over basic concepts and terminology persists, leading to inaccurate assessments, comparisons, and interpretations. To address this concern, an international working group was formed to clarify basic concepts, standardize terminology, and provide guidance on the use and interpretation of body composition assessment. This initial publication addresses methodological standards, focusing on summarizing...

CONCLUSION: Maternal exercise was associated with differences in the breast milk metabolome. Metabolites that were associated both with acute exercise and habitual activity correlated with infant adiposity measures.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this observational cohort study, GD was associated with altered concentrations of several human milk metabolites. The associations between these metabolites and infant growth suggest that milk compositional differences in mothers with GD may beneficially moderate the growth and body composition of their infants.

The tutelage of our mentors as scientists included the analogy that writing a good scientific paper was an exercise in storytelling that omitted unessential details that did not move the story forward or that detracted from the overall message. However, the advice to not get lost in the details had an important flaw. In science, it is the many details of the data themselves and the methods used to generate and analyze them that give conclusions their probative meaning. Facts may sometimes slow...

INTRODUCTION: Early life gut microbiomes are important for brain and immune system development in animal models. Probiotic use has been proposed as a strategy to promote health via modulation of microbiomes. In this observational study, we explore if early life exposure to probiotics via the mother during pregnancy and lactation, is associated with decreased inflammation in breastmilk, maternal and infant microbiome variation, and altered infant neurodevelopmental features.

Human milk is a complex mix of nutritional and bioactive components that provide complete nourishment for the infant. However, we lack a systematic knowledge of the factors shaping milk composition and how milk variation influences infant health. Here, we characterize relationships between maternal genetics, milk gene expression, milk composition, and the infant fecal microbiome in up to 310 exclusively breastfeeding mother-infant pairs. We identified 482 genetic loci associated with milk gene...

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a highly prevalent herpesvirus that is often transmitted to the neonate via breast milk. Postnatal CMV transmission can have negative health consequences for preterm and immunocompromised infants, but any effects on healthy term infants are thought to be benign. Furthermore, the impact of CMV on the composition of the hundreds of bioactive factors in human milk has not been tested. Here, we utilize a cohort of exclusively breastfeeding full-term mother-infant pairs...

CONCLUSIONS: Breastfeeding information in structured EHR fields have the potential to accurately classify lactation status. The validity of these data should be assessed in populations with a lower breastfeeding prevalence.

The establishment of the gut microbiome in early life is critical for healthy infant development. Although human milk is recommended as the sole source of nutrition for the human infant, little is known about how variation in milk composition, and especially the milk microbiome, shapes the microbial communities in the infant gut. Here, we quantified the similarity between the maternal milk and the infant gut microbiome using 507 metagenomic samples collected from 195 mother-infant pairs at one,...

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a highly prevalent herpesvirus that is often transmitted to the neonate via breast milk. Postnatal CMV transmission can have negative health consequences for preterm and immunocompromised infants, but any effects on healthy term infants are thought to be benign. Furthermore, the impact of CMV on the composition of the hundreds of bioactive factors in human milk has not been tested. Here, we utilize a cohort of exclusively breastfeeding full term mother-infant pairs...

CONCLUSIONS: HMO concentrations are stable over 1 wk of lactation and are not acutely affected by a standard meal plus SSB in mothers.

Human milk is a complex mix of nutritional and bioactive components that provide complete nutrition for the infant. However, we lack a systematic knowledge of the factors shaping milk composition and how milk variation influences infant health. Here, we used multi-omic profiling to characterize interactions between maternal genetics, milk gene expression, milk composition, and the infant fecal microbiome in 242 exclusively breastfeeding mother-infant pairs. We identified 487 genetic loci...

Breastfeeding is the gold standard for early nutrition. Metabolites from the one-carbon metabolism pool are crucial for infant development. The aim of this study is to compare the breast-milk one-carbon metabolic profile to other biofluids where these metabolites are present, including cord and adult blood plasma as well as cerebrospinal fluid. Breast milk (n = 142), cord blood plasma (n = 23), maternal plasma (n = 28), aging adult plasma (n = 91), cerebrospinal fluid (n = 92), and infant milk...

CONCLUSIONS: HMO concentrations are stable over 1 wk of lactation and are not acutely affected by a standard meal plus SSB in mothers.