Research team investigates difference between baby formula and human milk’s effect on intestinal growth

An article published in Gastro Hep Advances by a team of Yale researchers and led by Lauren Smith, MD, hospital resident, finds parental milk and donor human milk support intestinal health and epithelial growth and differentiation, while formula specifically inhibits certain growth factors and prevents differentiation.

Researchers also discovered that growth and improvement for certain cell types, like enteroendocrine cells that support proper digestion and peristalsis, were improved specifically with parental milk.

Corresponding author Liza Konnikova, MD, Ph.D., associate professor of immunobiology and of pediatrics (neonatal-perinatal medicine), explained, “We’re still unclear about whether there are simply good factors in breast milk, detrimental factors in formula, or if it’s some combination of both. But some takeaways from this paper are that formula can be detrimental to epithelial growth directly, and that both types of human milk were shown to induce epithelial growth.”

The team says that if the factors in human milk that drive these intestinal improvements can be identified through more research, the possibility exists to then supplement formula-fed infants, or improve formula overall, to promote intestinal health and development. That can have profound clinical implications.

Smith spoke about how future research may look based on what they have discovered. She said, “What we found is that nutritional exposures have a profound impact on the development of the fetal intestinal epithelium.

“We found that fetal intestinal tissue fed with formula had a more inflammatory immune profile, while those that were fed with human milk had improved growth, earlier differentiation into mature cell types, and a more homeostatic immunophenotype. We think these effects may explain why we see differences in rates of gastrointestinal complications of prematurity, such as necrotizing enterocolitis, between formula-fed and milk-fed preterm infants.

“Further research to clarify the mechanism behind this could lead to the ability to supplement the critical factors driving this effect in preterm infants at risk for gastrointestinal complications, reducing morbidity and mortality.”