Combined strategies of hMOs to support a healthy immune barrier

Human milk is considered to be the gold standard for infant nutrition. It contains in addition to nutrients a variety of bioactive molecules to guide maturation of the immune system and the gut barrier functions. An essential family of molecules that guide this process are so called human milk oligosaccharides (hMOs). Some of these molecules are active in guiding immunity, others in regulating barrier function and some function as microbiota accessible fibre to guide healthy development of the trillions of microbes in the human gut. These microbes can impact health on different levels and are instrumental for maintaining health and are highly influenced in activity by hMOs.  Any disturbances in these microbiota-host interactions can lead to disease.

Due to various reasons, there is a substantial number of infants of around 70% that cannot be solely fed with mother milk and need to consume cow milk-derived infant formula. Compared to mother milk, cow milk lacks the unique family of hMOs and their benefits. To compensate for this lack of hMOs, non-digestible carbohydrates (NDCs) such as inulins and galactooligosaccharides (GOS) are added to infant formula to mimic some functions of hMOs. Also, individual hMOs such as 2’FL has been added to support several health benefits. Impact of combinations of existing hMOs and GOS will be tested on several features such as on improving gut-immune barrier function, reducing pathogen adhesion and on microbiota development. The expectation is that combining existing and new molecules will contribute to a better health in later life.