Breast milk shows benefit against antibiotic resistance

Published on

06/09/2026 - 23:30 GMT+2

Breast milk may offer babies a new health benefit: helping to limit the presence of antibiotic resistance genes in their gut. That is the conclusion of an international study led by Spain's National Research Council (CSIC), which has examined how certain components of human milk influence the bacteria that colonise the gut during the first months of life.

The study, published in "Cell Reports Medicine (source in Spanish)", finds that exclusive breastfeeding is associated with a lower abundance and diversity of antimicrobial resistance genes in babies' intestines.

"Promoting breastfeeding appears to be an effective strategy for reducing antimicrobial resistance genes present in intestinal bacterial communities during a critical stage in the development of the microbiota", explains M. Carmen Collado, a CSIC researcher at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA).