Breast milk contains probiotics with anti-infantile diarrhea effects that may protect infants as they change to solid foods.

Abstract

Infants often experience complementary food-induced diarrhea (CFID), which occurs when infants switch from breast milk to solid foods. The relative abundances of Prevotella and Rothia were higher in stools of infants with CFID, while the relative abundances of Enterococcus and Escherichia were higher in healthy infants. The abundance of Lactobacillus spp. normally found in breast milk fed to infants with CFID was significantly reduced, and Enterococcus spp. were less abundant when diarrhea occurred. Furthermore, Lactobacillus and Enterococcus were present as shared bacteria in both mother and infant, and they were considered potential anti-CFID probiotics as their relative abundances in breast milk were negatively correlated to infant CFID. KEGG functional analysis showed that the function of amino acid metabolism differed between infants with CFID and healthy infants. Therefore, CFID might be related to the decomposition of proteins in food supplements. The screening revealed seven hydrolytic casein and five hydrolytic casein and rice protein isolates from 320 suspected Lactobacillus and Enterococcus isolates. The animal experiments demonstrated that a mixture of five isolates effectively hydrolyzed the casein and rice protein and prevented diarrhea in young rats. Thus, the occurrence of CFID was found to be closely related to the intestinal and breast milk microbiota, and bacteria that could assist in the digestion of cereal proteins were involved in CFID. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.