“Gut health” has officially joined the the likes of kale, quinoa and cross fit.
But unlike some wellness fads, this seriously buzzed-about term has plenty of science backing up its importance in promoting many facets of mental and physical well being.
And while most of us are content with boosting our stomach’s good bacteria by way of sauerkraut, yoghurt and kombucha, one Silicon Valley biotech start-up has plans to add breast milk to our prebiotic repertoire.
Yep, you read that right.
Breast milk is widely renowned for its immune boosting benefits and infection fighting antibodies, and Sugarlogix is looking to isolate the sugars that give breast milk these unique capabilities.
The company’s CEO, Kulika Chomvong, told Gizmodo that these sugars – which have also been found to feed the microbiome in babies’ tums – could be turned into an easily consumable prebiotic pill.
“We were interested in prebiotics and we realised that the best type of prebiotics exist in nature, and that’s in human breast milk,” Kulika Chomvong told Gizmodo.
“This is the very first time adults can really harness the power of breast milk. We wanted to find the very first food for the gut that we ever received as babies, and that’s breastmilk.”
However, experts say that more research is needed into whether this new “superfood” would actually benefit adults.
“Based on emerging research, human milk oligosaccharides seem to be main drivers in shaping the developing infant gut microbiome, with potential short- and long-term consequences for human health and disease,” researcher Lars Bode told Gizmodo.
“Overall, [there is] a lot of potential in both infants and adults, but a lot more work is needed to substantiate and confirm claims.”
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