Figure 2

Infant nutrition affects gut Bifidobacterium carriage during early childhood. Fecal counts of bifidobacteria in vaginally-born babies that started receiving formula-feed at age 7 days (mixed-fed) vs. those who remained exclusively breast-fed during the first 3 months of life (breast-fed). Bacterial count (log₁₀ cells/g feces) is expressed as mean ± SD. The count of genus Bifidobacterium is expressed as the sum of the counts (log₁₀ cells/g feces) of B. longum subsp. longum, B. longum subsp. infantis, B. breve, B. catenulatum group, B. bifidum, B. adolescentis, B. angulatum and B. dentium. B. catenulatum group includes B. catenulatum and B. pseudocatenulatum. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 (Student’s t-test). Only bacteria with notable difference are shown here. Age (x-axis): 1 day, 7 days, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 3 years.