The 55th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) was held on May 17-20, 2023 in Vienna, Austria. As one of the world's most authoritative and internationally influential academic events in the field of infant and young child nutrition, this year's Annual Meeting of EPSGHAN attracted more than 4,000 authoritative professionals in the field of pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition from more than 100 countries and regions to participate in the meeting, which centered on the current research focuses in the field of infant and young child nutrition, such as breast milk nutrition, key ingredient research, as well as probiotics and prebiotics, Gut-Brain Axis (GBA) and other topics related to intestinal health.

As an international authoritative academic organization focusing on scientific research and dedicated to providing comprehensive solutions for maternal and child health, BINC has been deeply involved in every ESPGHAN annual meeting. This year, BINC presented 6 important scientific research results at the conference, covering topics such as breast milk oligosaccharide (HMO), lactogenic bone bridging protein (LPN), and infant formula processing, etc. BINC communicated with scholars in the form of poster presentations, and two of the research studies, which were completed by the BINC Micro-Ecology Research and Application Innovation Platform in cooperation with the South China University of Technology, were selected to be presented in the Poster Walk session. Among them, two research studies done by BINC Microecology Research and Application Innovation Platform and South China University of Technology were selected to be presented in the Poster Walk, which was well received by the experts and peers. This post will share three of the six research results.

Lactogenic Bone Bridging Protein LPN is a multifunctional breast milk active protein, which is found in human milk at a high level of 138mg/L, much higher than cow's milk (18mg/L) and regular formula (9mg/L), and has been shown to play important roles in early life growth and development, including immune regulation, intestinal development, and nervous system development.

This study investigated the protein digestion pattern as well as cellular bioactivity of LPN digests in vitro. The results showed that bioactive peptides released from LPN digestion in vitro could reduce inflammation of intestinal epithelial cells and enhance the barrier function of intestinal epithelium by inhibiting the activation of the NF-κB pathway. This finding enriches the current academic understanding of the bioactivities of LPN and highlights the potential benefits of using LPN in infant formulas, bringing new ideas for formulation optimization of related products.

Breast milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), the third largest solid component of breast milk, selectively stimulate the growth and/or activity of one or more probiotic bacteria to support gut health in infants and young children.The structural diversity of HMOs suggests that they may have different biological functions and mechanisms in influencing the infant's intestinal microcosmosis, the maturation of the intestinal immune barrier, and the susceptibility to bacterial infections.

In this study, six HMOs were used as the sole carbon source for fermentation, and representative infant feces of three intestinal types were selected as the fermentation substrates for in vitro fermentation. The protective effects of the fermentation products of HMOs on the intestinal barrier function were investigated by applying the metabolites of the HMOs to a model of LPS-induced intestinal epithelial cell injury. The study showed that the outcome of HMOs fermentation mainly depended on the structure of infant intestinal flora, and all species of HMOs promoted the proliferation of bifidobacteria in the infant intestinal tract where bifidobacteria were used as the dominant bacteria. In addition, 2-FP attenuated the inflammation of the intestinal epithelium and enhanced the barrier function of the intestinal epithelium by inhibiting the activation of the NF-κB pathway. These findings provide an important theoretical basis for the future design of personalized infant nutritional solutions.

The aim of the study was to investigate whether combinations of commercially available HMOs could provide additional immunomodulatory benefits compared to HMOs alone. It was found that fucoidan and salivary acid glycosyl HMOs (i.e., 2'-FL and 6'-SL), two of the most prevalent HMOs found in breast milk, had the potential to restore immune responses to normal levels; whereas, an increase in HMOs did not necessarily correlate with a decrease in inflammatory responses. These findings provide further evidence that the immunomodulatory effects of HMOs are structure-specific. In the future, more studies are needed to investigate whether the addition of structure-specific HMOs to infant formulas may have an effect on their immunomodulatory properties.

It is worth mentioning that on April 22-23, at the 5th probiotics and prebiotics science congress hosted by the Probiotics and Health Branch of the Chinese Nutrition Society, BINC put forward the scientific definition of HMObiotics for the first time and shared the journey of discovery of HMObiotics research, which aroused heated discussions among a group of scholars attending the conference. On the journey of providing precise nutritional solutions for infants and children, we always insist on independent innovation and jointly promote the vigorous development of infant health by uniting the scientific research power of authoritative research institutions!

In addition, BINC presented 3 scientific research results, exploring goat milk oligosaccharides, formula powder processing research, and more, which will be discussed in the next tweet, so stay tuned.