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Breast Milk Oligosaccharides

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Breastfeeding and Metabolic Programming

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Abstract

Oligosaccharides are polymeric molecules typically consisting of between three and around ten monosaccharide subunits. Human breast milk differs from that found in the majority of mammalian species by virtue of the rich mixture of oligosaccharides (at least 150 different types) that it contains at high levels. Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) in mature human milk are even more abundant than milk proteins. They are usually present at a concentration of 5–15 g/L, which means that, if the water content is disregarded, they are exceeded in amount only by disaccharide lactose and milk fats [1, 2].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child Health and Diseases, Arel University, Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Türkiye

    Özlem Naciye Şahin

  2. Medical Faculty, Department of Basic Sciences, Medical Biochemistry, Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar University, Istanbul, Türkiye

    Aysel Özpınar

  3. NICU, Third Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University General Hospital “ATTIKON”, Athens, Greece

    Despina D. Briana

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  1. Özlem Naciye Şahin
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  2. Aysel Özpınar
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  3. Despina D. Briana
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child Health and Diseases, Arel University, Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Türkiye

    Özlem Naciye Şahin

  2. Pediatrics Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Despina D. Briana

  3. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Perugia, Perugia, Perugia, Italy

    Gian Carlo Di Renzo

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Şahin, Ö.N., Özpınar, A., Briana, D.D. (2023). Breast Milk Oligosaccharides. 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_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33278-4_6

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