ReviewNutrients2026
Before the Gut: Human Milk Oligosaccharides and Oral Microbial Colonization in Infancy.
Review in Nutrients, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
objectivesHuman milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) reach the oral cavity before any other compartment and resist hydrolysis by salivary enzymes, yet their behavior there has received far less attention than their intestinal fate. This review asks what follows from treating the mouth as a compartment rather than as a corridor.
methodsMEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science were searched from inception to August 2026, combining oligosaccharide and oral terms, with forward citation tracking of the human studies. Each candidate mechanism was classified by its type of supporting evidence: human oral association, direct oral in vitro evidence, indirect evidence from other compartments, or unresolved hypothesis.
resultsOnly two human analyses, both from the same Western Australian cohort (BLOSOM), have related HMO exposure to infant oral bacterial communities; the larger concluded that the effect, while statistically detectable, was biologically limited. Residence time, and probably effective glycan concentration, differ from the intestinal case, as do the aerotolerant,
conclusionsAnti-adhesive and substrate-driven mechanisms may operate in parallel, and a possible asymmetry between commensal and cariogenic streptococci is framed as a testable hypothesis, as is the contribution of swallowed oral communities to gut colonization. Current evidence supports no change in practice regarding supplemented formula, donor milk, oropharyngeal colostrum, or breastfeeding and caries.
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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.