Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) Profiles and Growth Indicators of Infants Aged 0-4 Months

The breastfeeding rates globally in Indonesia generally remain low with only 40% or less infants aged 6 months are exclusively breastfed. Available national data in 2018 showed the proportion of wasted in children under 5 years old was 6.7%, while 3.5% children were severely wasted. This data showed improvement compared data in 2007 and 2013. While proportion children under 2 years old with stunted and severly stunted was 29.9%. As the third most abundant group of compounds in human milk, after lactose (70 g/L) and lipids (40 g/L), human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) never been study in Indonesia. HMOs amount and diversity influenced by non modifiable and modifiable factors. The maternal phenotypes, the α-1-2-fucosyltransferase (FUT-2) gene and the α-1-3-4-fucosyltransferase (FUT-3) gene divided the mother into secretor (Se+) and non secretor (Se-) and Le+ or Le-). Studies showed the breastfed infants of non secretor mothers secrete lower HMOs than secretor mothers. By many functions in HMOs such as prebiotic, anti infection, modulate immunity, it is thought that HMOs can influence infant growth. The hypothesis of this study is to show the associations between maternal factors (secretor gene status/FUT-2 gene, lewis gene status/FUT-3 gene, gestational age and gestational weight gain) with HMOs profiles and growth indicators of infants aged 0-4 months.