Fascinating Aspects of Glycobiology—Part 4 (Breast Milk)

Larry A. Law

Multiple studies document that breast-fed babies have stronger immune systems, better intestinal health, healthier brain development, higher IQs, and more developed cognitive abilities than formula-fed babies. As nurses say, "breast is best!" Human breast milk contains these glycobiology sugars. They are critically different from what is found in cow's or goat's milk. Scientists initially thought these sugars only provided energy for the growing babies. They had no idea how pervasive and critical they were to the healthy development of a child. 

 Beta-bonded Sugars

Scientists were stuck in an old paradigm. They were focused on the fact that there were no enzymes in the stomach that could break down these biologically active, beta-bonded sugars. They didn't know what they didn't know. It wasn't until the discovery of the power of gut bacteria that scientists finally changed their tune and were forced to acknowledge that these sugars could actually benefit the body. No one realized that bacteria in the gut were capable of breaking the beta-bonds holding these sugars together. The bonds had to be broken to make the sugars available to the baby's digestive system. Because scientifc 'truth' knew of no way that the sugars could be broken down in the body, the scientific assumption was that these sugars were not of any benefit. Clearly, mothers knew for millennia that their breast milk benefited infants in spite of science's inability to explain why. 

Differential Gene Expression

It turns out that if we remove the water from mother's breast milk, 1/3 of the milk solids are these sugars. That's a higher percentage than protein! These sugars promote intestinal health by being prebiotic—they encourage the growth of good bacteria. They are antiadhesive and antimicrobial, which means they result in less intestinal, upper respiratory, and urinary tract infections. They regulate gut health by serving as intestinal epithelial cell modulators. They induce differential gene expression, which means they enable a cell to determine what kind of cell it is going to be. Every cell contains the entire human genome. So, every cell knows how to become a skin cell, a muscle cell, or a brain cell. But only the genes that define its purpose get activated. When cells divide, the new cell has a purpose. It has a defined function. The process of differential gene expression is how cells grow up and determine just what they are going to be. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how important this would be to a growing infant.

Cow's Milk—the Model for Formula

The model for infant formula is based on cow's milk. A milk cow injected with bovine growth hormone to increase her milk supply is shown above. Mother's breast milk (called Human Milk Oligosaccharides or HMOs in the scientfic literature) is vastly different. Both milks contain two types of proteins: whey and casein. Mother's breast milk is 60% whey and 40% casein. Bovine milk is 18% whey and 82% casein. Bovine milk has 4 times the protein of HMO and this is a problem. Since artificial milk (formula) has similar ratios to bovine milk, the higher casein ratio makes it more difficult for babies to digest. In addition, it is dangerous. Dr. T. Colin Campbell in his epic book, The China Study, stated that “Casein is the most relevant chemical carcinogen ever identified...it dramatically and convincingly promoted cancer.”

Other differences between human and cow’s milk include these facts:
HMOs have 100 to 1000 times more sugars
HMOs are radically different–more complex and abundant
HMOs have 2.5 times (100 vs 40) unique sugars
HMOs have 80 times more fucosylated sugars (fucose is one of the eight sugars!)
Primate (chimpanzee) milk is closest to HMOs, but is still radically different
Cluster analysis proves that HMOs could not have evolved from primate phylogeny or in other words, based on the significant differences in breast milk, man did not descend from primates!​

Brain Development

Sialic acid is one of the eight glycobiology sugars. It serves as a major regulator in building the nervous system in a developing fetus. Breast milk in mothers of preterm infants develop 13-23% more sialic acid than full term to compensate for the fact that the baby was born early and was deprived of sialic acid inside the mother's body. 

A child’s brain reaches about 80% of its adult weight by age 2. Children are born with a complete number of brain neurons, but the synaptic connections between them develop after birth.
Researchers have shown that sialic acid plays an essential role in proper brain development and cognition, so it is important that children have an adequate supply when it is needed. The effects of sialic acid supplementation on learning and memory have been studied in rodents, as well as in piglets (whose brain structure and function closely resembles those of humans). A diet rich in sialic acid was given to newborn piglets for five weeks. Then, learning and memory were evaluated using a visual cue in a maze. A relationship between dietary sialic acid supplementation and cognitive function was seen: the piglets that had been fed high doses of sialic acid learned more quickly and made fewer mistakes. This suggests that sialic acid has a strong influence upon brain development and learning. Most formulas have less than 25% of sialic acid found in full term milk. Worse still is the fact that 70% of that sialic acid is bound to glycoproteins and not directly useful to the baby. In human milk, it is not bound and is available as free oligosaccharides for use by the baby.

Two common terms in formula ingredients that can be confusing to new moms are:
FOS – fructooligosaccharides. These are not found in HMOs and are often synthetic. Also, GOS – galactooligosaccharides. These are not found in HMOs either. Both terms have a sugary feel to them, but they are not found in HMOs and are not associated with the eight glycobiology saccharides (sugars). It is marketing hype to confuse moms.