Researchers at the Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, are exploring whether kumara, or sweet potato, can foster healthy bacteria in baby’s microbiome, supporting immune development and sleep. Professor Clare Wall, principle investigator in the study: “One of the really critical periods in pregnancy is very early on in the first trimester, and the other is between when a baby’s born till about five or six months of age. What babies first eat and what they’re subjected to within their environment, really impacts on the way they grow and develop.”
“When we talk about growth, it’s not only their length and how much weight they gain, but it’s also the brain’s development, how their immune system develops, and, how their metabolism gets set up,” Professor Wall added. “Those early stages really define your trajectory for the rest of your life.”
“When a baby’s being breastfed, they have certain types of bacteria that keep the bowel healthy and help the baby’s immune system develop. But we don’t know what happens when you start introducing solid foods and how that impacts on further development of the microbiome, but also of immune competence and metabolic function.”
The study is focusing on kūmara, which is already a popular food for babies. It also has prebiotics in it. One of the aspects of the study is testing the effect on sleep. Carbohydrate-type foods, will break down in short-chain fatty acids. “They are taken up into the blood and are really important for producing signals to the brain. Also, they can go to the liver to get broken down to be used as energy. And it’s felt that some of those short-chain fatty acids provide us with greater amounts of energy than the others. This in turn may help babies sleep longer.”
