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1

SemanticTriangle t1_j4ppq17 wrote

Aren't ogliosaccharides a class of multi-ring sugar we can't metabolize, but bacteria in our large intestines can? Or is that not true of all ogliosaccharides?

36

lurklurklurkPOST t1_j4pq2pe wrote

Greater biodiversity in one's environment leads to a wider range of defensive measures in one's immune system, leading to a wider variety of defensive measures passed to offspring.

1,107

Humbud t1_j4pw8cm wrote

Me breastfeeding in 12” of snow.

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Chime4 t1_j4pwvmm wrote

There are some we cannot metabolize and some we can. Oligosaccharides present in human milk have been found to promote helpful bacteria in the growing child’s gut by bypassing our primary digestion. Oligosaccharides are also used on the outside of cells for cell recognition. The combination of different sugar chains on the outside of cells attached to proteins (collectively glycoproteins) are what give one their blood type. A B AB O positive and negative blood types are descriptors of what types of Oligosaccharides are present or not present.

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Upbeat-Many813 t1_j4pzj4h wrote

How are the oligosaccharides making their way to breast milk? Are people eating more diverse diets in greener urban environments?

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whenitsTimeyoullknow t1_j4q97br wrote

Biodiversity is fairly simple to achieve in suburbia. Most subdivisions have vegetated stormwater infrastructure, like roadside ditches. Having flowering groundcover like clover in the planting plan, allowing native plants to propagate and act like a “meadow,” using various practices (Integrated Pest Management) to control invasive plants, and avoiding mowing during the peak blooms all make a huge difference.

Note too that stormwater systems are generally the connected spaces which allow for animals like frogs and invertebrates to travel. There’s some threat of these ponds turning into ecological traps, but if you build it, they will come. Imperfect habitat is better than no habitat.

Edit: I’ll add that one of the best ways to make a difference is to keep a native wildflower seed blend on-hand (I use spice jars on my belt) and sprinkle/smush onto dirt patches in urban areas. If your plants are native and appropriate for the exposure, you’ve created a little gas station for migrating pollinators.

324

Viking_fairy t1_j4q9plr wrote

like feeding a milk goat poison oak and drinking the milk!

5

whiskeyjane45 t1_j4qeq69 wrote

My family and I inherited land and I have worked on re-introducing more native species of trees and flowering plants for pollinators around the areas near the house. I have breastfed each of my three children, so this is definitely cool to read this morning as I nurse my third.

41

Vescape-Eelocity t1_j4qetrs wrote

The article says the results were independent of socioeconomic status, so they apparently controlled for that, but I'm still a bit suspicious too because we already know that wealth literally improves every aspect of a person's life already.

I think I'd have a fair amount of skepticism unless they proved the direct causal relationship, or maybe if they were still able to find the same correlation when looking at poor rural families and wealthy inner city families without many green areas (I feel like this is rare for wealthy people, but it does exist). I feel like controlling for things like diet, exercise, etc would be extremely difficult in that case too.

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creamonbretonbussy t1_j4qfj63 wrote

I wonder how this is reflected in colder climates, arid climates, and overdeveloped cities where there's much less exposure to greenery.

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Avalon-1 t1_j4ql8lq wrote

Homelander would like to know more.

4

shonuph t1_j4qng1k wrote

Seems like we’re always surprised that the idea of that nature and being in nature and not eating plastics or pesticides or any of that stuff is good for us We are Stone Age people trying to manage in an environment we don’t belong in

15

ScrotieMcP t1_j4qqc6q wrote

We were not built to live in urban squalor and high rises. We were built to be a part of the natural world.

5

Brom42 t1_j4qr2sd wrote

It's the exposure to nature. I live in northern WI and have 2' of snow on the ground. Being out in the winter forest has all the same effects on me (reducing heart rate/blood pressure, levels of stress hormones, etc.) as being out there in the middle of summer.

Being surrounded by nature, whether it is snow, sand, forests, a park in a city has significant positive health effects.

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Scioso t1_j4qref5 wrote

This is actually a big deal. OP just linked the press release, but this was in Nature (one of the most important research journals) publication. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-27317-1

From the paper,

“The results were independent of the education level, occupation, marital status and health of the children’s parents as well as the socio-economic disadvantage in the residential area.”

Generally I’m a cynic and quickly can find reasons to scoff at what I see on Reddit. This isn’t one of them.

This may be a “huh” moment that spurns on a lot of research in many fields.

71

Anders13 t1_j4qs3yc wrote

Just visited NYC. This makes perfect sense why people are the way they are there.

3

TasteofPaste t1_j4qsf3g wrote

Would this suggest that formula-fed infants receive zero such benefits and are more likely to develop allergies and other diseases cited in the article?

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Substantial_Space478 t1_j4qt2h1 wrote

does not address the fact that higher green areas also correlate with higher incomes. income affects diet, healthcare, stress levels, etc. the correlation between green areas and oligosaccharides in no way suggests a causal link between the two. saying one impacts the other is not proven and is an overstep in interpreting the results of whatever study this is referencing. it should note correlation and encourage further study.

−7

tribe171 t1_j4qvcmg wrote

No offense but what is the reason that having more money in your bank account would have a bigger affect on oligosaccharides than living in a more natural environment? I would think that environment would have a more direct connection to breast milk quality than finances.

1

MonksCoffeeShop t1_j4qx0s1 wrote

There are backwoods super babies being developed somewhere.

1

maxximii t1_j4qxv4t wrote

I live in and around Atl, that's not even close to true. The heart of the city is just like any other, maybe a little more green, trees, parks than most. But further out you go from center, the more forests, greenery you find. Our sprawling suburbia is still packed with forests, lakes, rivers, fields. It's still mostly forest if you ever look at it from the sky

But yea, HOAs here are horrible

16

BoredomIncarnate t1_j4qy9k7 wrote

First, in many countries people with more money have better access to green spaces. Also, people with more money could be healthier on average for a variety of reasons (e.g. access to healthier food, more leisure time and time to exercise, fewer life-or-death stressors), and healthier people would presumably produce higher quality breast milk.

Socio-economic status is a huge and obvious confounder, so bringing it up makes sense. In this case, however, the full article said they controlled for that and saw similar results.

3

Substantial_Space478 t1_j4qytep wrote

it doesn't actually cite a control. they claim no coorelation to income but offer no data. in the study description they say they requested income information and then assigned people to groups based on education level instead, which is bizarre

−1

SelfDefecatingJokes t1_j4r2vsh wrote

I always joked that my parents must’ve thrown me into a pile of dirt right after birth because I have no allergies. I guess my premise wasn’t incorrect since I pretty much grew up in a field surrounded by forest.

10

Viking_fairy t1_j4r6osa wrote

hard to tell. a lot people swear on it though, so I'm inclined to think it has a beneficial effect. me personally, I just put up with the oak infections till I built up a resistance. meanwhile everyone's just telling me "you need to get a milk goat." haha.

5

Alrik t1_j4ralkd wrote

Minnesotan here.

If you declare cold and snow to be bad weather and stay inside for half of the year you're going to be miserable.

The only way to get through is to make the best of it and find ways to enjoy the outdoors in every season.

16

penguinpolitician t1_j4rd03y wrote

That would go some way to explain the rise in numbers of people with allergies.

4

ommnian t1_j4rf95f wrote

As someone living in a very rural area, I wish fervently that my kids were growing up in a more diverse community. I love where we live. But, I hate that their school has... Idk, maybe a half dozen non-white people in it.

19

Ragfell t1_j4rffw4 wrote

Tall grasses/meadow flowers encourage other kinds of pests (like snakes, opossums, and rats) to live near your home. You ultimately don’t want them that close, because they can come inside (my mom had a snake in her house last year).

I keep a front yard of grass (also easier for some lawn games), but have garden beds for native plants. Healthy compromise.

11

ommnian t1_j4rh4a0 wrote

Idk how you define "quality green space" but in most rural places, it's all around. Might not be in the form of public parks and walking trails, but it's there in farms and lakes and streams, and many of us have animals to care for that get us outside daily, large yards, gardens, etc.

3

storala t1_j4ri6ft wrote

What about winter? It’s really green here in the summer but now everything is just White and cold

1

Alexis_J_M t1_j4ric43 wrote

The important part: results were independent of socioeconomic status.

3

Scioso t1_j4rl6y9 wrote

Not a doctor, nor anyway an expert in children.

I’d say right now it’s nothing to worry about, and may end up being practically irrelevant.

This is a new study, with a mainly unexplained mechanism (the breakdown of why things happen the way they do).

It will be years before any meaningful result filters out to a layperson.

Even if this is actually useful knowledge (seems like it might be), it very likely will be rolled into another theory/ used to confirm something else.

In ten years you’ll probably see a litany of products on the shelves that advertise providing the same thing as actual nature. Likely, they will all be varying degrees of ineffective.

However, as a scientist, this is a big step BECAUSE of what it could help to happen. Science is a ton of confirming ideas that are pretty much solved, so things like this are interesting.

5

BoredomIncarnate t1_j4rlc5m wrote

At least in this context, defining quality as ecological healthy with high biodiversity seems like the right choice.

While we are obviously talking averages/in general, I would guess that for every rural community with healthy lakes and streams, there are twice as many with monoculture farms with heavy herbicide and pesticide usage, which might not confer as much benefit if I am understanding correctly (which I might not be). I can’t back up those numbers, but maybe someone has the relevant data.

I would also like to note that I said “better access”, which doesn’t necessarily mean that other people don’t have access. Furthermore, I was simply trying to explain why wealth could be a confounding factor, not necessarily suggesting that there couldn’t be people seeing the same benefit without being wealthy.

I think that the bottom line is that more studies looking at how benefits vary depending on which kind of green space is available would be potentially helpful.

2

bubblerboy18 t1_j4rn8ij wrote

It may be that some areas of atlanta have more to offer than some suburbs in terms of access to parks. Where I grew up the only park was a 15 min drive of 3 mile run. In the city the closest park is right out front of the door. Depends where in the city obviously but shared green space is more of a thing inside the perimeter than outside neighborhoods. Of course there are some decent neighborhoods with tons of deer but I still prefer in town nature somehow unless we’re talking national parks

1

kastabortettkonto t1_j4rnsay wrote

Who knew that living closer to what we're evolved in has benefits?

1

shawnshine t1_j4rol9n wrote

I take oligosaccharides as a supplement every day, and it's helped my gut health more than any probiotic I've ever tried.

2

mydogisacloud t1_j4rrzhb wrote

I suppose good weather was a wrong choice of words. I love snow activities and hiking all year. I was more picturing the amount of dining al fresco, picnics, family gatherings outside with bbqs, lazy long forest walks, and all such activities that are pleasant in warm and sunny conditions surrounded by spring/summer greenery.

4

KamovInOnUp t1_j4rsi4r wrote

It would help if the title wasn't clearly misleading bait.

Of course people exposed to more environmental factors would develop immunities to those factors. They intentionally word the title to make it seem like urban sprawls are inherently harmful to humans.

−4

transmogrified t1_j4ruzfd wrote

Bad news for you there, plastics and pesticides are so prevalent in our environment they're finding microplastics in the deepest ocean trenches and PCBS and DDT in the breastmilk of Inuit women who have never been south of the Arctic Circle. Human exposure to these things is inevitable.

3

largos7289 t1_j4rv7yk wrote

Key word in that whole paragraph is "may" I know plenty of kids that were breastfed and they have allergies and ear issues.

2

Cleistheknees t1_j4rz4xk wrote

There’s already lots of epidemiology pointing in this direction, so it’s more than a suggestion. Most infant formula contains little to no milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), and generally they are synthesized from bovine milk. Human milk generally has the highest amount and diversity of oligosaccharides of any mammal, so bovine milk isolates are a poor substitute, and might be completely useless since HMOs are just one piece of the extremely bioactive mixture in breastmilk.

21

Amithrius t1_j4s2rnz wrote

How sure are they that this is causative? Couldn't it just be that people who can afford to live in residential areas with green spaces can also afford to eat healthier diets?

0

gfraser92 t1_j4s72ge wrote

Yeah but you just know the parents will be overbearing to negate this

1

tklite t1_j4s7mfm wrote

>The results were independent of the education level, occupation, marital status and health of the children’s parents as well as the socio-economic disadvantage in the residential area.

I'd be really interested in seeing how health was controlled for in regards to the oligosaccharide content of the mother's breast milk.

On another note...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligosaccharide#Dietary_oligosaccharides

> Human milk is an example of this and contains oligosaccharides, known as human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), which are derived from lactose.[21][22] These oligosaccharides have biological function in the development of the gut flora of infants. Examples include lacto-N-tetraose, lacto-N-neotetraose, and lacto-N-fucopentaose.[21][22] These compounds cannot be digested in the human small intestine, and instead pass through to the large intestine, where they promote the growth of Bifidobacteria, which are beneficial to gut health.[23]

The question then becomes, how do these different bacteria that are promoted by the oligosaccharides in human milk go on to affect the body in regards to allergies and other diseases.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bifidobacterium#Bifidobacteria_and_the_infant_gut

>The human infant gut is relatively sterile up until birth, where it takes up bacteria from its surrounding environment and its mother.[14] The microbiota that makes up the infant gut differs from the adult gut. An infant reaches the adult stage of their microbiome at around 3 years of age, when their microbiome diversity increases, stabilizes, and the infant switches over to solid foods. Breast-fed infants are colonized earlier by Bifidobacterium when compared to babies that are primarily formula-fed.[15] Bifidobacterium is the most common bacteria in the infant gut microbiome.[16] There is more variability in genotypes over time in infants, making them less stable compared to the adult Bifidobacterium. Infants and children under 3 years old show low diversity in microbiome bacteria, but more diversity between individuals when compared to adults.[17] Reduction of Bifidobacterium and increase in diversity of the infant gut microbiome occurs with less breast-milk intake and increase of solid food intake. Mammalian milk all contain oligosaccharides showing natural selection[clarification needed]. Human milk oligosaccharides are not digested by enzymes and remain whole through the digestive tract before being broken down in the colon by microbiota. Bifidobacterium species genomes of B. longum, B. bifidum, B. breve contain genes that can hydrolyze some of the human milk oligosaccharides and these are found in higher numbers in infants that are breast-fed. Glycans that are produced by the humans are converted into food and energy for the B. bifidum. showing an example of coevolution.[18]

2

whenitsTimeyoullknow t1_j4s92yy wrote

I think there is a difference, but there is no limit to the amount of research and hypotheses about what affects pregnancy. A pregnancy typically lasts long enough to gain some seasonal exposure at some point. If you were concerned about having immunodeficiencies due to a long winter, you should ingest locally sourced honey. Since they gather pollen from neighboring flowers, you’re inoculated to allergen-causing plants (as is the baby, theoretically).

4

Iohet t1_j4s9vz8 wrote

> The residential green environments were measured at the time the child was born around the homes of the families with measures of greenness, diversity of vegetation, and naturalness index, i.e. how much human impact and intervention there has been in the residential area. The results were independent of the education level, occupation, marital status and health of the children’s parents as well as the socio-economic disadvantage in the residential area.

> The study showed that the diversity of oligosaccharides increases and the composition of several individual oligosaccharides changes when the mother’s residential area includes more green environments.

> “This could indicate that increased everyday contacts with nature could be beneficial for breastfeeding mothers and their children as the oligosaccharide composition of breastmilk would become more diverse. The results imply that breastfeeding could have a mediating role between residential green environments and health in infancy,” says Lahdenperä and continues:

Something tells me that the drive towards overly dense urbanization that is being pushed by housing advocates and some politicians to solve housing issues will override the benefits shown from studies like this

1

Dependent-Bee7036 t1_j4sbpnj wrote

As an early childhood expert and as a mother, I preach this to my familes that I serve.

Now I also advocate for parental choices as breastfeeding can be horrible for some mothers.

I had a child that could not get the nutrients that he needed as my production was low.

That made me feel like a failure but supplementswith formula and my megar breast milk was how I was able to get my child the nutrients that he needed

It should be that we support mothers on how to feed a newborn and not criticism on how she does.

1

sparklezpotatoes t1_j4sbr72 wrote

and as for rats, cats will keep them out of the home and theyre very skittish. a child playing in a yard of wildflowers and native plants probably wont come into contact with any of those "pests." to the person youre replying to: not all native plant meadows are tall grass and flowers, either. think clover!

10

JoeWhy2 t1_j4scjv2 wrote

If you look at Google maps on satellite view, try zooming in on the darker spots in urban areas. You'll find that the darker spots are in fact greener and have much larger and more affluent houses than the lighter areas. It's a "thing".

2

HBB360 t1_j4sebu5 wrote

My (admittedly very) basic knowledge of oligosaccharides in cellular biology is that they are used for signaling with glycosillation of proteins. What role do they have in protecting an infant from harmful microbes and allergy/disease mitigation?

1

Staerke t1_j4sf47v wrote

I grew up on a small farm and my allergies look like a grocery list and I have asthma to boot. And it's just me, no one else in the family has any.

So idk. The immune system is gobsmackingly complex and I have tremendous respect for immunologists that can wrap their head around it.

4

Nosebleed_Incident t1_j4slir7 wrote

I'm gonna have to be that guy and say that we really can't tell anything from this article in terms of health benefits/detriments so we have to be careful about the conclusions we draw. I did my PhD on the synthesis of glycoprotiens and oligosaccharides. Biologically, these structures are unimaginably complex and their functions are equally complex and mostly unclear. The study seems good on preliminary reading, but the fact that they found increased diversity in these compounds should not be read as "better" or "worse" in terms of health (since the oligosaccharide system is still so mysterious). Just words of caution. I don't have the biology expertise to criticize the methods directly (I'm a chemist) but I just wanted to point out that diversity of oligosaccharides doesn't necessarily indicate "healthier"

1

Black-Ship42 t1_j4so0rk wrote

Another way privilege makes a difference in people's life.

1

Bulzeeb t1_j4socc6 wrote

The research article specifically mentions diversity of green vegetation, and not just exposure to any vegetation or other natural features, to be the biggest factor in its findings. In other words, not just being exposed to nature, but a diverse array of species of green vegetation, which would likely be more present in, say, a forest during spring than during the winter, or the desert.

So for the purposes of increasing the diversity of oligosaccharides in nursing women, simply being in nature at all is only weakly helpful. Certainly exposure to non-diverse nature is still good for the reasons you mentioned, just less so for oligosaccharide diversity.

3

Kalapuya t1_j4sozca wrote

So many studies that frame these kind of findings as “living in greener cities”, which is really just another way of saying that too much city is a bad thing. When will we just accept that there are diminishing returns to public health as urban density increases?

2

Claughy t1_j4sqd25 wrote

Pest is usually defined by being injurious to property, health, or crops. They don't fit the bill and basic human activity will keep them from taking up residence 9 times out of 10, long grass or no.

6

Bulzeeb t1_j4srdoe wrote

The research article cites two specific indexes they tested as being linked to oligosaccharide diversity, the Simpson's Diversity Index of Vegetation Cover, which measures diversity of vegetation, and the Naturalness Index, which measures "how much human impact and intervention there has been in the residential area".

So those areas would likely be less conducive to oligosaccharide diversity since drier, colder, and more developed areas tend to have less biodiversity, though you'd have to check specific locales with the above indices to have a better idea.

5

Bulzeeb t1_j4ssxiv wrote

Let's keep in mind that the study was only testing for something very specific (the diversity of HMOs), not for any direct benefits or general wellness like the press release article speculates. So the question isn't "should we expect rich people to have this good thing" (not actually tested), but rather, "should we expect rich people to be more likely to be exposed to areas with high biodiversity and low human impact", which were the main factors linked to HMO diversity. Which isn't necessarily the case.

1

Surfercatgotnolegs t1_j4t6zhd wrote

First, it’s not about breastfeeding, it’s about where. Were they breastfed in nature??? That’s literally the point of the research.

Second, of course it’s may. Nothing in life is 100%! Even things we have studied extensively doesn’t guarantee anything. We know excess sugar consumption predominately leads to development of diabetes 2. Does it GUARANTEE diabetes 2? Of course not!! Just like you can also find anecdotes of people who smoked and lived to 90 with no lung cancer. Good for you but those exceptions are meaningless.

2

Surfercatgotnolegs t1_j4t7wmt wrote

No lie, I’m pretty sick of this too. Every single research article is “but what about wealth??”.

In the comments below, people keep guessing that maybe it’s because richer people eat better food. Even tho food has NOTHING to do with this topic!!

Like sure, hate the rich all you want, but at this point it’s become an excuse for folks to get out of responsible decision making.

There’s plenty that can be done to improve your life or the life of your child. One example, as implied by this research, is to be out in nature more. Even poor people have access to nature. Stop this ridiculousness folks.

2

tom-8-to t1_j4ti3tc wrote

Is this the same fallacy as “women who ride horses have better healthcare”????

1

thefirstthree t1_j4tq9f8 wrote

As a clinician I love learning new things but I have to question how many assumptions stand between this and proof of clinical significance. Don't forget that 15 years ago we were telling parents to avoid peanuts.

1

SnooPickles7369 t1_j4txcvl wrote

Those of us who grew up rural already knew this… we rarely have allergies and grow up strong!

1

tribe171 t1_j4wk4v3 wrote

I think it's presumptuous to think that more income equals less stress. More income usually does not fall out of the sky. It usually entails working a more demanding career. It's also true that some people have more money because they are neurotic about finances. I know poor people who do not stress about money and well-off people who are obsessive about finances. You can factor in socioeconomic status just to have another vector of analysis but treating wealth and stress as automatically inverse variables is presumptuous and unscientific.

0

BoredomIncarnate t1_j4wmmdk wrote

I didn’t say less stress. I am perfectly aware that is not the case. I said fewer life-or-death stressors, like a person not knowing if they will be able to afford essentials (e.g. food or shelter), as well as the possibility that an unexpected cost or illness might cause their finances (and their well-being) to crumble.

There are lots of kinds/sources of stress, and each person handles stress differently, but not knowing when you can next eat or if you can pay your rent fall into a special category, IMO.

1

Lesearcher t1_j51ggfk wrote

imagine if living in jungle, no wonder tarzan is so healthy

1