Dear Colleagues,

Breast milk is the ideal food for the nutrition of newborns and infants. Among its beneficial effects, breastfeeding allows the optimal development of growth and a newborn’s immune system. Breast milk is a highly complex living fluid that contains proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, cells, and other biologically important components. Its influence on the health of newborns, its repercussions on some chronic pathologies in adults, and its beneficial role in the premature newborn are the subject of interesting studies. 

This Special Issue particularly aims to deepen our knowledge of better-known factors of breast milk that may be related to the intestinal maturation process of a newborn and the establishment of a stable microbiota and delve into the effects on the modulation of a newborn’s immune response and the development of an atopic phenotype in the infant, as well as develop a more thorough understanding of the influence of breast milk on somatic growth and its protective role against metabolic syndrome in adults. 

This Special Issue welcomes original research, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses on, but not limited to:

• Breastfeeding and its influence on the establishment of a newborn’s microbiota and its relationship with the development of infant metabolic syndrome;
• Breastfeeding and breastfeeding with donated milk in very low-weight premature newborns and its relationship with the prevention of atopy;
• Breastfeeding and its role in the prevention of pathologies among premature newborns (e.g., bronchopulmonary dysplasia, necrotizing enterocolitis).

Prof. Dr. José Uberos
Guest Editor

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• breastfeeding
• human milk
• microbiota
• gut health
• child growth