Breastfeeding and Human Milk

Breastfeeding provides numerous health benefits to infants, including protection against morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases of bacterial, viral, and parasitic origin. In addition to providing an optimal source of infant nutrition, human milk contains immune-modulating factors, including secretory antibodies, glycoconjugates, anti-inflammatory components, prebiotics, probiotics, and antimicrobial compounds such as lysozyme and lactoferrin, which contribute to the formation of a health-promoting microbiota and an optimally functioning immune system. Breastfed infants have high concentrations of protective bifidobacteria and lactobacilli in their gastrointestinal tracts, which diminish the risk of colonization and infection with pathogenic organisms. Protection by human milk is established most...