Human Milk Oligosaccharides and Infant Health: Recent Findings and Future Directions
Date: Thursday, June 26, 2025
Time: 12:00 - 13:00 ET (12:00pm - 1:00pm ET)
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Speaker: Paige K. Berger, PhD RDN (Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital)
Webinar description:
Infancy is a critical developmental window during which human milk is recommended to support optimal growth, immune function, and brain development. While human milk is comprised of myriad components, a group of complex carbohydrates known as human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) have emerged as particularly beneficial for infant health.
The goal of this presentation is to summarize the state-of-the-science on HMOs and their impact on infant growth and development. Specifically, we will review the following: 1) HMO structure-function relationships; 2) biological and environmental determinants of HMO composition; 3) aspects of infant health that are shaped by HMOs; 4) the infant populations that stand to benefit most from HMOs and why; and 5) evidence on the effects of HMO supplementation.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the unique structure and function of HMOs.
- Understand the determinants of HMO composition, including the influence of maternal genetics
- Summarize evidence linking HMOs to infant outcomes (e.g., growth, immune function, brain development)
- Identify current knowledge gaps and future directions in HMO research
Moderator: Kyly Whitfield, PhD (Mount Saint Vincent University)
About the Speaker:
Dr. Paige Berger is a PhD-investigator and registered dietitian who has devoted her career to studying the nutritional determinants of early growth and brain development. Dr. Berger received her doctorate in Nutritional Sciences from The University of Georgia. She completed postdoctoral fellowships with Dr. Leann Birch at The University of Georgia
(2015-2016) and Dr. Michael Goran at The University of Southern California/Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (2016-2022). Dr. Berger currently holds a faculty appointment at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The goal of Dr. Berger’s research is to understand human milk biology and determine its influences on infant growth, brain development, and cognitive functioning. She aims to explicate the factors in human milk that shape the structure of the brain, the foundational framework for future learning and memory. Dr. Berger’s work has shown that exposure to simple and complex carbohydrates in the intrauterine environment and through breastfeeding associates with brain development using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in full-term infants. She has also shown that exposure to the same simple and complex carbohydrates associates with cognitive capacities at 24 months of age. Her current NIH awarded research builds on previous findings and examines the role of human milk oligosaccharides on brain growth and maturation in very preterm infants. She has also received funding to expand her work to the human milk microbiome. Ultimately, Dr. Berger’s findings may inform nutritional care and supplementation strategies among very preterm infants, to maximize therapeutic potential in the neonatal intensive care unit.
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