One step closer ... ?

Newborns at risk of the potentially deadly necrotizing enterocolitis may soon be closer to a preventative strategy, thanks to new collaborative research from Boston and Beijing.

Building on earlier findings, scientists concluded that butyrate – a chemical compound produced from the breastmilk-probiotics combination – is indeed anti-inflammatory.

Please find details in this open-access article from the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology: ‘Short chain fatty acid butyrate, a breast milk metabolite, enhances immature intestinal barrier function genes in response to inflammation in vitro and in vivo’.

The study was funded in part by a grant to the Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, Harvard Medical School, from FLRF.

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