Mm. Gronlund et al., Development of intestinal bacterial enzymes in infants - Relationship to mode of delivery and type of feeding, APMIS, 107(7), 1999, pp. 655-660
To evaluate the development of intestinal flora in young infants, and espec
ially to estimate the influence of mode of delivery and type of feeding on
the establishment of intestinal microflora, faecal flora was studied indire
ctly by measuring prospectively the faecal bacterial enzyme activities (bet
a-glucosidase, beta-glucuronidase and urease) in 29 full-term, healthy infa
nts during the first 6 months of life. Mode of delivery had no influence on
the faecal enzyme activities. In contrast, infants receiving formula feeds
were more often urease positive at 1-2 months of age (70% vs 25%, p=0.043)
and had higher median activity of beta-glucuronidase at 6 months of age (0
.90 and 0.19 nmoles/mg protein x min, p= 0.0043) than exclusively breast-fe
d infants. Through indirect methods to measure the development of a faecal
microflora our results indicate that the type of milk that infants receive
during the first months of life may have an important role in the developme
nt of intestinal flora.