Microbial metabolites: the next frontier in human milk

Lisa F Stinson; Donna T Geddes

doi:10.1016/j.tim.2022.02.007

Microbial metabolites: the next frontier in human milk

Trends Microbiol. 2022 May;30(5):408-410. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2022.02.007. Epub 2022 Mar 10.

Authors

Lisa F Stinson¹, Donna T Geddes²

Affiliations

¹ School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. Electronic address: lisa.stinson@uwa.edu.au.
² School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.

PMID: 35282976
DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2022.02.007

Abstract

Microbial metabolites mediate the impact of the microbiome on host physiology. Here, we highlight metabolites of interest for early-life programming and synthesise early evidence that maternally derived microbial metabolites are transmitted to the infant via human milk. We advocate for the use of targeted and untargeted metabolomics to compliment current milk microbiome work.

Keywords: breastfeeding; human milk; microbial metabolites; short-chain fatty acids.

MeSH terms

Gastrointestinal Microbiome*
Humans
Infant
Metabolomics
Microbiota*
Milk, Human