What is Bifidobacterium species abundance?
Bifidobacterium species colonise the neonatal gut within days of birth and metabolise human milk oligosaccharides into short-chain fatty acids, particularly acetate and lactate, that lower luminal pH and inhibit pathogen growth. They dominate the healthy infant microbiome during the first year, declining after solid food introduction and weaning. Vertical transmission from maternal gut and vaginal flora during delivery, as well as through breast milk, seeds initial colonisation.