Eating your veggies? What about yogurt? Probiotics (which can be found in your yogurt) help improve lactose digestion, prevent constipation (a common complaint during pregnancy), and may have healing effects on the intestinal tract.
When baby arrives, he or she will need to build proper probiotic protection, too. A recent study published in the journal Microbiome has shown that your DNA may have a great deal of influence on how much or how little baby will be able to make and keep in their own gut.
The study reports that twenty percent of women carry a mutation, called the FUT2 gene, which lowers the level of sugar in their milk. Low levels of the breast milk sugar that feeds the beneficial gut microbe Bifidobacterium result in slower colonization of the bacterium in baby’s intestines.
The authors emphasize they are in no way trying to undermine the multitude of benefits that come from breastfeeding, but are seeking to better understand the wonders and limitations of mother’s magic milk.
