Among other benefits, breast milk contains natural sources of prebiotics – small, indigestible fibre molecules that promote the growth of good bacteria in the baby’s gut, which is not present in the standard formula milk.
The study, conducted on piglets showed that prebiotics included in the infant formula enhanced memory and exploratory behaviour in babies.
«When we provide prebiotics in formula, our results confirm that we can not only benefit with prebiotic activity, and galactooligosaccharide (GOS), a naturally occurring prebiotic.
Piglets are widely considered a more informative model for human infants than mice and rats, their digestive systems, behavioural responses, and brain development are remarkably similar to human infants.
Pigs fed with the prebiotic supplements spent more time playing with new objects, on a learning and memory test, than pigs who did not receive the supplements.
The preference for novel objects, an indication of natural curiosity, is a sign of healthy brain development and points towards positive development of learning and memory, the researchers said.