Abstract
For term infants whose mothers are healthy and have a satisfactory dietary intake, breast milk is the ideal mode of nutrition. The recommendation is that infants up to the age of 6 months be solely breastfed, after which breastfeeding should continue alongside the introduction of solid food up to at least the age of 2 years. The composition of breast milk varies over the course of a single feed, and according to when in the day feeding occurs, as well as the stage of lactation. Alongside this intra-individual variation in composition, the composition varies from mother to mother and from population to population. Both the environment and the woman’s genetics affect composition, as does whether the infant is a boy or girl, if an infection occurs, and any change in the mother’s lifestyle, such as changes in diet [1].
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bravi F, Wiens F, Decarli A, Dal Pont A, Agostoni C, Ferraroni M. Impact of maternal nutrition on breast-milk composition: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016;104(3):646–62. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.115.120881. Epub 2016 Aug 17.
Amulic B, Cazalet C, Hayes GL, et al. Neutrophil function: from mechanisms to disease. Annu Rev Immunol. 2012;30:459–89.
Artis D, Spits H. The biology of innate lymphoid cells. Nature. 2015;517:293–301.
Barnie PA, Lin X, Liu Y, et al. IL-17 producing innate lymphoid cells 3 (ILC3) but not Th17 cells might be the potential danger factor for preeclampsia and other pregnancy associated diseases. Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2015;8:11,100–7.
Bharat A, Bhorade SM, Morales-Nebreda L, et al. Flow cytometry reveals similarities between lung macrophages in humans and mice. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2016;54:147–9.
Benjamin JT, Maheshwari A. Chapter 47 developmental immunology. In: Fanaroff and Martin’s neonatal-perinatal medicine, diseases of the fetus and infant. 11th ed. Elsevier; 2000. ISBN: 978-0-323-56711-4.
Yoder MC. Aortic tissue as a niche for hematopoiesis. Circulation. 2012;125:565–7.
Christensen RD, Jensen J, Maheshwari A, Henry E. Reference ranges for blood concentrations of eosinophils and monocytes during the neonatal period defined from over 63 000 records in a multihospital health-care system. J Perinatol. 2010;30:540–5.
Bernstein HM, Pollock BH, Calhoun DA, Christensen RD. Administration of recombinant granulocyte colony-stimulating factor to neonates with septicemia: a meta-analysis. J Pediatr. 2001;138:917–20.
Schlapbach LJ, Mattmann M, Thiel S, et al. Differential role of the lectin pathway of complement activation in susceptibility to neonatal sepsis. Clin Infect Dis. 2010;51:153–62.
Vignali DA, Kuchroo VK. IL-12 family cytokines: immunological playmakers. Nat Immunol. 2012;13:722–8.
Walker JC, Smolders MA, Gemen EF, et al. Development of lymphocyte subpopulations in preterm infants. Scand J Immunol. 2011;73:53–8.
O’Neill LA, Golenbock D, Bowie AG. The history of toll-like. Receptors—redefining innate immunity. Nat Rev Immunol. 2013;13:453–60.
Del Vecchio A, Christensen RD. Neonatal neutropenia: what diagnostic evaluation is needed and when is treatment recommended? Early Hum Dev. 2012;88(suppl 2):S19–24.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Güngör, H., Tüfekçi, S. (2023). Immunological Aspects of Breast Milk. In: Şahin, Ö.N., Briana, D.D., Di Renzo, G.C. (eds) Breastfeeding and Metabolic Programming. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33278-4_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33278-4_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-33277-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-33278-4
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)