Quantification of Naturally Occurring Oligosaccharides in Goat’s Milk and Goat’s Milk-Based Infant Formula and their Impact on Infant Gut Health

Recently, infant nutrition has gained attention as growing data suggest disruptions during the early stages of life can have impacts that last till later in life. Breastfeeding is recognized as the “golden standard” for infant nutrition due to the various health benefits for both mother and child. However, breastfeeding may not always be viable, and mothers will have to rely on infant formulas (IF), yet IFs are perceived negatively and are reported to lead to childhood diseases and obesity. Reasons for such adverse outcomes are suggested to be due to the compositional difference with human milk (HM), particularly that of milk oligosaccharides (HMO), a bioactive compound that is shown to promote the growth of beneficial Bifidobacterium, protection against infections, and reduce inflammation. To meet the nutritional gap, modern IFs are often fortified with man-made oligosaccharides such as fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and galactooligosaccharides (GOS) yet their efficacies in improving infant gut health remain uncertain.