Observational studyNutrients2020
Metabolomic and Metataxonomic Fingerprinting of Human Milk Suggests Compositional Stability over a Natural Term of Breastfeeding to 24 Months.
Observational study in Nutrients, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Association Between Maternal Diet and the Human Milk Microbiome: A Review of Evidence and Methodological Challenges.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- Macronutrient concentrations in human milk beyond the first half year of lactation: a cohort study.Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition · 2025Article
- The Influence of Maternal Lifestyle Factors on Human Breast Milk Microbial Composition: A Narrative Review.Biomedicines · 2024Review
- Fingerprinting Breast Milk; insights into Milk Exosomics.EMBnet.journal · 2024Article
- Effect of Maternal Diet on Maternal Milk and Breastfed Infant Gut Microbiomes: A Scoping Review.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Participants in the Trans-Antarctic Winter Traverse Expedition Showed Increased Bacterial Load and Diversity in Saliva but Maintained Individual Differences within Stool Microbiota and Across Metabolite Fingerprints.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Human Milk from Tandem Feeding Dyads Does Not Differ in Metabolite and Metataxonomic Features When Compared to Single Nursling Dyads under Six Months of Age.Metabolites · 2022Article
- Building Robust Assemblages of Bacteria in the Human Gut in Early Life.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2021Review
- Breastfeeding Practices Influence the Breast Milk Microbiota Depending on Pre-Gestational Maternal BMI and Weight Gain over Pregnancy.Nutrients · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Sparse data exist regarding the normal range of composition of maternal milk beyond the first postnatal weeks. This single timepoint, observational study in collaboration with the 'Parenting Science Gang' citizen science group evaluated the metabolite and bacterial composition of human milk from 62 participants (infants aged 3-48 months), nearly 3 years longer than previous studies. We utilised rapid evaporative ionisation mass spectrometry (REIMS) for metabolic fingerprinting and 16S rRNA gene metataxonomics for microbiome composition analysis. Milk expression volumes were significantly lower beyond 24 months of lactation, but there were no corresponding changes in bacterial load, composition, or whole-scale metabolomic fingerprint. Some individual metabolite features (~14%) showed altered abundances in nursling age groups above 24 months. Neither milk expression method nor nursling sex affected metabolite and metataxonomic fingerprints. Self-reported lifestyle factors, including diet and physical traits, had minimal impact on metabolite and metataxonomic fingerprints. Our findings suggest remarkable consistency in human milk composition over natural-term lactation. The results add to previous studies suggesting that milk donation can continue up to 24 months postnatally. Future longitudinal studies will confirm the inter-individual and temporal nature of compositional variations and the use of donor milk as a personalised therapeutic.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.