A new study reveals that breastfeeding for at least three months improves gut health and reduces the risk of asthma in infants under one year old. U.S. and Canadian researchers found that breastfeeding helps build a healthy gut microbiome—a community of microorganisms—crucial for digestion, immunity, and respiratory health.
“Breastfeeding and human milk guide the development of microbes in an infant’s gut and nasal cavity, ensuring that this process happens in an orderly and timely way,” said Liat Shenhav, a computational biologist and senior author of the study. The research highlights the essential role breastfeeding plays in supporting respiratory health.
The study is part of the CHILD Cohort Study, a long-term project tracking 3,500 Canadian children from birth into adolescence. Researchers found that even after accounting for factors like smoke exposure, antibiotics, and maternal asthma history, the duration of breastfeeding remained a key factor in a child’s microbial development and asthma risk.
Breast milk contains human milk oligosaccharides, complex sugars that support specific beneficial microbes, unlike formula, which requires different microbes for digestion. This difference can give certain microbes an advantage, and researchers found that the microbes in formula-fed babies often arrived later, with early microbial development linked to an increased risk of asthma.
The study also identified that the bacterial species Ruminococcus gnavus appeared sooner in the gut of children who were weaned off breast milk early. This bacteria is linked to immune system regulation and an increased asthma risk.
Shenhav noted that understanding these mechanisms could influence future guidelines on breastfeeding and weaning. The study used artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict asthma risks based on breastfeeding habits, with hopes that future research could help prevent asthma in children unable to breastfeed for the first few months.
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