I found this interesting study that looked at how bacteria is passed from mother to baby. Researchers analyzed bacteria in the mother's diet during pregnancy, in the mother's breastmilk, and then compared this to the bacteria in the infant. There were strong correlations between the mother's types of bacteria and the infant's bacteria, as you would expect.
They also found that certain bacteria in allergic mothers was passed on to infants, and this wasn't true for non-allergic mothers. This could show how the gut flora predisposes some children to allergies.
In a related study, researchers at UC-Davis looked at how this bacteria transport developed. The researchers believe that babies have evolved to make use of the sugars in human milk in order to generate good bacteria: "“In short, the genome sequencing revealed that the relationship between B. longum subsps. infantis, its infant host and human breast milk is a fascinating example of co-evolution.”
I found this interesting study that looked at how bacteria is passed from mother to baby. Researchers analyzed bacteria in the mother's diet during pregnancy, in the mother's breastmilk, and then compared this to the bacteria in the infant. There were strong correlations between the mother's types of bacteria and the infant's bacteria, as you would expect.
They also found that certain bacteria in allergic mothers was passed on to infants, and this wasn't true for non-allergic mothers. This could show how the gut flora predisposes some children to allergies.
In a related study, researchers at UC-Davis looked at how this bacteria transport developed. The researchers believe that babies have evolved to make use of the sugars in human milk in order to generate good bacteria: "“In short, the genome sequencing revealed that the relationship between B. longum subsps. infantis, its infant host and human breast milk is a fascinating example of co-evolution.”