Holistic growth begins early in childhood. Here’s an explanation about what happens to children’s body when they drink milk, and how milk supports their holistic development.
Milk has always been widely believed to be a must for children. “It does magic to your body,” says everyone for decades. Yet, if one must try to actually define rather than describe such a substance, the answers—more often that not—generally lead to who produces it, where it comes from, and what it does. As commonly defined in several literature, milk is a fluid secreted by the mammary glands of females for the nourishment of their young. It’s not that these characterizations are bad per se; however, it gets tricky when these general descriptions do not get at what milk is actually like.
To say that milk is a building block of nutrition for the young, as if it comprises a single recipe, is to do it an injustice. Milk is rather a manifestation of many things other than that: an evolutionary adaptation turned into a genuine diet, a catalyst for cognitive advancement, and natural vaccine against infections—not to mention that it fine-tunes metabolism, sending signals to the microbes that live inside the gut. These are areas where explanations about the white liquid fall short.
While this dynamism makes it difficult to formulate a single and formal definition that encompasses all characteristics mentioned, it can be said that milk is a one-stop shop for children’s developmental needs, “where we have hydration, nutrients, and bioactive factors that are all a single source,” Liz Johnson, a researcher at Cornell University, previously stated in an article.
With over 155 years of evidence-based scientific research and consistently pioneering innovations in formula milk, Nestlé introduces another scientific breakthrough in children’s nutrition, with its new NANKID® INFINOPRO® HA, an age-appropriate milk formulated with their most advanced blend of five human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) and clinically proven partially hydrolyzed whey protein.
While the optimized protein blend helps reduce the risk of allergies in early childhood, HMOs, on the other hand, are a special type of prebiotics that largely play a role in supporting children’s areas of holistic development—namely, immunity, brain development, growth, and digestion.
For starters, HMOs make the gut strong because, beyond the functions of food digestion and fermentation, the gastrointestinal tract acts as a child’s first line of defense. It is an area where 70 percent of the immune cells hang around. The HMO prebiotics encourage the maturation of these cells to fight off infections that may occur early in life, and promote a balanced proportion of non-harmful bacteria in the stomach, which is critical for an overall healthy immune response.
Viral and bacterial infections are but the only concern, as heightened food sensitivity also happens during the first two years of children’s lives. There are times that their developing immune system is unable to ward this off due to genetics and environmental factors, therefore, favoring allergic reactions.
In preclinical studies, HMOs are found to be essential in driving food tolerance and better allergen responses due to their ability to stimulate a balanced gut microbiota. Suffice to say that, with HMOs and the optimized partially hydrolyzed whey protein, children can have a lower risk of developing food sensitivities and allergies later on in life.
Rare as it may be, HMOs also participate in the gut-brain connection. 10 to 30 percent of oligosaccharides are sialylated, and these HMOs supply sialic acid, an essential building block for neurons, to support further brain development. Evidence has shown these prebiotics’ role in modulating brain and cognitive development. Some studies have also proved how HMOs can improve cognitive development (6’SL), as well as language functions (3’SL).
Lastly, a child’s healthy gut is linked to bone development. A unique 5-HMO blend was found to support age-appropriate growth, while sialylated HMOs, 3’-SL and 6’-SL, were found to reduce cortical porosity and increase mineralization to help strengthen the bones of children.
With all these things considered, it can be said that age-appropriate milk plays a valuable role in meeting not only the hydration and nutritional needs of children, but also the bioactive ones. NANKID® INFINIPRO® HA FOUR fills this gap by providing essential nutrients that are needed for building immunity, preventing allergies, developing cognitive skills, facilitating growth, and improving digestion—all of which begin at an early age. In turn, children get better equipped with a holistic advantage that would give them the opportunities to explore who they want to become in the future.
NANKID® INFINIPRO® HA FOUR is not a breastmilk substitute but a growing-up milk especially suited for children older than three years old. Breastfeeding should continue for as long as possible. The HMOs present in NANKID® are not from human milk but are structurally identical to those found in human milk. For more information, visit NANKID®’s official website. Don’t forget to follow NANKID® on Facebook for updates.
References
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3. Holscher H, et al. Bifidobacterium lactis Bb12 Enhances intestinal antibody response in formula-fed infants: A randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition 2012;36:1
4. Yi, D.Y.; Kim, S.Y. Human Breast Milk Composition and Function in Human Health: From Nutritional Components to Microbiome and MicroRNAs. Nutrients 2021;13:3094
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6. Bauer V, et al. Term infant formula supplemented with a unique blend of five human milk oligosaccharides supports age-appropriate growth, is safe and well-tolerated. A double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Pediatric Academic Societies Conference, 2021
7. Bonnet N, et al. Preclinical supplementation of Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) during early life positively impacts long-term bone quality. ASBMR Annual Meeting, 2020
8. Berger et al. Human milk oligosaccharides 2’-fucosyllactose links feedings at 1 month to cognitive development at 24 months in infants with normal and overweight mothers. Plos ONE 2020;15 :2
9. Oliveros E, et al. Human Milk Levels of 2’-Fucosyllactose and 6’-Sialyllactose are Positively Associated with Infant Neurodevelopment and are not Impacted by Maternal BMI or Diabetic Status. J Nutr Food Sci. 2021;4:024
10. Cho S, et al. Human milk 3’-Sialyllactose is positively associated with language development during infancy. Am J Clin Nutr 2021;114:588-597
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