2023-08-01 18:46:14
Is a little sugar enough, as the star of one of the most loved children’s films sang, Mary Poppins? A small sugar molecule could be at least a big help, according to a new study. It is a super ingredient contained in the first meal of babies, mother’s milk, and according to science it is able to boost the developing brain of newborns, and potentially also the aging brain. This was identified by a group of researchers from Tufts University in the United States.
The research signed by a team of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) of the US university and published in ‘Pnas’ suggests that a micronutrient in human breast milk, a sugar molecule called myo-inositol, provides a benefit to infant brains, and this finding — which further sheds light on the link between nutrition and brain health — could help improve infant formulas used in circumstances where breastfeeding is not possible, the authors note. The work also paves the way for studying the role myo-inositol might play in the brain as we age.
The researchers profiled and compared human milk samples collected in Mexico City, Shanghai and Cincinnati from the Global Exploration of Human Milk study, which included healthy mothers of full-term infants. And they found that this micronutrient was most important in breast milk during the first few months of breastfeeding, when neuronal connections called synapses are forming rapidly in the infant’s brain. This was true regardless of the mom’s ethnicity or background.
Further testing using rodent models and human neurons showed that myo-inositol increased both the size and number of synaptic connections between neurons in the developing brain, indicating stronger connectivity. “The formation and refinement of brain connectivity from birth is driven by genetic and environmental forces, as well as human experiences,” says Thomas Biederer, senior author of the study, senior scientist in the Neuroscience and Aging Team at HNRCA and a faculty member at Yale School of Medicine. Diet is one of the environmental ‘forces’.
In early childhood, the brain may be particularly sensitive to dietary factors because the blood-brain barrier is more permeable and small molecules eaten as food can more easily pass from the blood to the brain. “As a neuroscientist, it’s inspiring to me to see how profound the effects of micronutrients on the brain,” says Biederer. “It’s also surprising how complex and rich human breast milk is, and I now think it’s conceivable that its composition changes dynamically to support different stages of baby brain development.” Similar levels of myo-inositol in women living in very different geographic locations indicate its generally important role in human brain development, notes the expert.
Research conducted by other groups has shown that levels of this substance decrease over time as children develop. In adults, lower than normal brain inositol levels have been found in patients with major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. Genetic alterations in myo-inositol transporters have been linked to schizophrenia. Conversely, higher-than-normal accumulations have been identified in people with Down syndrome and in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome. Biederer points out that it is premature to recommend adults consume more myo-inositol, which is found in significant quantities in some cereals, and in beans, bran, citrus fruit and melon (but not present in large quantities in cow’s milk). Indeed, a number of open questions remain. Above all: what is the ‘right’ level of myo-inositol to have in the brain for optimal brain health at various stages of life? “With colleagues at HNRCA we are now pursuing research to test how micronutrients like myo-inositol can impact cells and connectivity in the aging brain,” says Biederer.
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