New study shows DuPont HMO benefits infant gut health

New findings reveal how DuPont’s Care4U™ 2’-fucosyllactose (2’-FL) beneficially changes microbiota composition and the production of microbial metabolites in comparison to galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) and lactose. The effects elicited to microbiota and metabolite composition by 2’-FL were between the responses elicited by GOS and lactose, which indicates that 2’-FL is selectively fermented by the infant microbes.

“Our previous in vitro cultivation experiments, as well as literature, indicated that 2’-FL is selectively utilized by only certain types of bifidobacteria and Bacteroides species, and this type of modelling with a complex microbiota is a step ahead in our journey to understand the prebiotic mechanisms of 2’-FL,” indicated Krista Salli, M.Sc., Scientist, DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences.

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“This study exemplifies the utility of the DuPont™ Enteromix® infant gut simulator to compare the fermentation of the carbohydrates between each other,” said Heli Anglenius, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences. “Over the years, the Enteromix® gut simulator developed in-house in Kantvik, Finland, has been used successfully for a multitude of studies with fecal microbiota sampled from adults, and this study demonstrates its applicability to studies where the microbiota is obtained from infants. This is a great continuation for more than 20 years of expertise using our own pre-clinical modelling.”

Among the study’s other achievements was the comparison of 2’-FL to GOS and lactose.

“While this study was done under simulated gut conditions, it showed the differences between the carbohydrates, especially in the production of microbial metabolites,” said Ratna Mukherjea, Ph.D., Technical Fellow and Global Research and Development Leader-Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMO), DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences. “These kind of study approaches can give more understanding on the how HMOs can be utilized by the microbiota with a method that is not invasive, which is important especially in the case of infants.”