General Nutrition

HUMAN MILK OLIGOSACCHARIDES IN BRAIN AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT - Dr Olabisi Ogunbase Snr Paediatrician/Chief Medical Officer Maternal and Child Centre, Eti-Osa.  

Cognition refers to a range of mental processes relating to the acquisition, storage, manipulation, and retrieval of information. These cognitive processes include thinking, knowing, remembering, judging, and problem-solving. Healthy human brain development represents the foundation of our civilization because the brain is the organ from which all our cognition and emotion originate. Therefore, there is perhaps nothing more important for a society than to foster and protect the development of the brain of our children.  

There is rapid, dynamic, and complex brain growth and development in the first years of life. Genetic and environmental (nutrition) factors have been shown to modify this process. Breastmilk, rich in nutrients such as HMOs is associated with improved brain development and cognition. Infants fed with HMOs supplemented formulae show comparable cognitive outcomes to breastfed infants.