What human milk contains?

What human milk contains?

Human milk consists of 87% water, 1% protein, 4% lipid, and 7% carbohydrate (including 1 to 2.4% oligosaccharides) (Figure 1). It also contains many minerals (Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Potassium, Sodium, etc…) and many vitamins.

What is found more in human milk?

The most abundant proteins are casein, α-lactalbumin, lactoferrin, secretory immunoglobulin IgA, lysozyme, and serum albumin. Non-protein nitrogen-containing compounds, including urea, uric acid, creatine, creatinine, amino acids, and nucleotides, comprise ~25% of human milk nitrogen.

Is human milk sterile?

As a product which is made within the human body, breast milk was traditionally thought to be sterile. Several recent studies have found that breast milk contains a healthy dose of commensal bacteria; all the staphylococci, streptococci, and lactic acid bacteria that are found in the infant gut.

What is so special about human milk?

Humans may have the most complex breast milk of all mammals. Milk from a human mother contains more than 200 different sugar molecules, way above the average 30-50 found in, for example, mouse or cow milk.

Does human milk contain bacteria?

Human milk is a source of lactic acid bacteria for the infant gut.

Does human breast milk contain bacteria?

There are more than 200 strains of bacteria in breast milk, of which the most important are Lactobacilli, Bacteroides and Bifidobacterium. Lactobacillus bacteria (belonging to lactic acid bacteria) have the ability to break down lactose and other simple sugars into lactic acid [72].

What is the role of human milk protein glycosylation in infant development?

Dynamic human-milk protein glycosylation can potentially regulate proteolytic susceptibility, pathogen binding, prebiotic effects, and participation in various other developmental processes in the infant ( 149, 151 ).

Are Human Milk N-glycans fucose?

The prevalence of fucose in human-milk N -glycans may exert antipathogenic effects similar to fucose units in free HMOSs ( 150 ). Sialic acid in human milk is an essential nutrient for infant brain development and cognition ( 99 ). More than 20% of the sialic acid in human milk is derived from glycoproteins ( 80 ).

Why human-milk glycans?

On the structural level, human-milk glycans offer tremendous potential for diverse interactions with receptor molecules aimed at producing many specific effects that benefit the infant.

What are the glycans found in milk?

In addition to lactose, the common milk sugar, glycans that are found in milk include structurally more complex oligosaccharides in free form or in covalently bound form as glycolipids, glycoproteins, glycopeptides, and glycosaminoglycans.