Associations Between Relative Abundances of Fatty Acids in Human Milk and Bacterial Genera in Infant Feces and Saliva

Objectives: Because oral and gastrointestinal microbiomes of breastfed infants may be influenced by fatty acid profiles of the human milk they consume, we investigated relationships between human milk fatty acids and microbial genera in infant saliva and feces. Based on previously published data (some in adults), we tested the hypotheses that relative abundance of Streptococcus in infant saliva is negatively correlated with relative amount of saturated fatty acids (SFA) in milk; and that Lactobacillus in infant feces is positively correlated with 16:1 and 18:2n6 and negatively correlated with 22:6n3 in milk.