Human breast milk consists of high amounts of necessary
nutrients for infants, including carbohydrates, essential fatty
acids, proteins, vitamins and minerals. It plays an important role in supporting the
survival and development of infants not just because of nutrient
supply but due to transfer of microflora originated in
breast milk. Accumulating literature indicates
that human breast milk contains a wide spectrum of
indigestible nutrients that are not utilized by the infants but
exert numerous potent bioactive functions on establishment
of infants’ indigenous microflora. The best example is human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) which do not directly provide energy
or materials for cellular structures. On the other hands, they
might serve as natural prebiotics, which act as growth stimulants
for selecting some group of colonic bacteria (mainly
belonging to Bifidobacterium genus) survived in breast milk
as well as breast-fed infants’ gastrointestinal tract.