Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jun 1;1(2):97-105.
doi: 10.1007/s40475-014-0015-x.

The Role of Maternal Breast Milk in Preventing Infantile Diarrhea in the Developing World

Christie G Turin  1 , Theresa J Ochoa  2
Affiliations

The Role of Maternal Breast Milk in Preventing Infantile Diarrhea in the Developing World

Christie G Turin et al. Curr Trop Med Rep. .

Abstract

Multiple interventions have been designed to decrease mortality and disability in children. Among these, breastfeeding is the most cost effective intervention for protecting children against diarrhea and all causes of mortality. Human milk is uniquely suited to the human infant, both in its nutritional composition and in the nonnutritive bioactive factors that promote survival and healthy development. Suboptimal breastfeeding has been linked with numerous adverse child health outcomes including increased incidence of diarrhea and pneumonia. This review provides an update regarding recent studies on the effect of breastfeeding on diarrhea morbidity and mortality in children in developing countries, describes major human milk components responsible for this protective effect (oligosaccharides, secretory immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, bacterial microbiota, etc.), and highlights areas for future research in this topic. Breastfeeding promotion remains an intervention of enormous public health potential to decrease global mortality and promote better growth and neurodevelopment in children.

Keywords: GI infections; antibodies; bacterial tropical medicine; breast milk; breastfeeding; children; developing countries; diarrhea; enteric pathogens; gastroenteritis; human milk; infants; lactoferrin; morbidity; mortality; nutrition; oligosaccharides; protective factors; tropical medicine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

Christie G. Turin and Theresa J. Ochoa declare that they have no conflict of interest

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Integration of mucosal immunity between mother and the newborn
Migration of effector B cells from the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) via lymph and peripheral blood to the lactating mammary gland. The distribution of B cells beyond the gut (arrows) is crucial for local production in breast milk of sIgA antibodies specific for enteric and airway microorganisms (Modified from Brandtzaeg P, 2010) [31]. There is also transmission of organisms/bioactive compounds from the child to the mother which induces responses from the mother that are specific to the child’s needs (two way path) [54].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Liu L, Johnson HL, Cousens S, et al. Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality: an updated systematic analysis for 2010 with time trends since 2000. Lancet. 2012;379:2151–2161. The Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG) of WHO and UNICEF has systematically estimated the distribution of child mortality by cause at the regional and global level for year 2010. Neonatal complications, pneumonia and diarrhea are the leading causes of death worldwide. - PubMed
    1. Bhutta ZA, Black RE. Global maternal, newborn, and child health--so near and yet so far. N Engl J Med. 2013;369:2226–2235. - PubMed
    1. Guerrant RL, Oriá RB, Moore SR, et al. Malnutrition as an enteric infectious disease with long-term effects on child development. Nutr Rev. 2008;66:487–505. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Walker CLF, Friberg IK, Binkin N, et al. Scaling up diarrhea prevention and treatment interventions: a lives saved tool analysis. PLoS Med. 2011;8:e1000428. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bhutta ZA, Das JK, Walker N, et al. Interventions to address deaths from childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea equitably: what works and at what cost? Lancet. 2013;381:1417–1429. Systematic review of studies showing the effectiveness of various interventions (preventive and therapeutic) against childhood diarrhea and pneumonia, and relevant delivery strategies. Breastfeeding is one of the most cost-effective interventions to lessen diarrhea burden. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources