Fun fact: 25 percent of calories from breast milk, in the form of special sugars called oligosaccharides, are not digestible by babies.25 Why are these special sugars there? To feed the infant’s microbiome, especially Bifidobacterium infantis, the microbe responsible for the development of a healthy immune system. Their absence is linked to colic, allergies, asthma, eczema, and autoimmunity in addition to generalized inflammation. There is even a name for this condition: newborn gut deficiency.
