Bruce German

University of California, Davis | UCD · Department of Food Science and Technology

For over a century, physicians have witnessed a common enrichment of bifidobacteria in the feces of breast-fed infants that was readily associated with infant health status. Recent advances in bacterial genomics, metagenomics, and glycomics have helped explain the nature of this unique enrichment and enabled the tailored use of probiotic supplement...

The origin of lactation and the composition, structures and functions of milk's biopolymers highlight the Darwinian pressure on lactation as a complete, nourishing and protective diet. Lactation, under the driving pressure to be a sustainable bioreactor, was under selection pressure of its biopolymers with diverse functions acting from the mammary...

Globally, we are failing to meet numerous nutritional, health, and environmental targets linked to food. Defining food composition in its full chemical and quantitative diversity is central to data-driven decision making for supporting nutrition and sustainable diets. “Foodomics”—the application of omics-technology to characterize and quantify biom...

The molecular complexity of the carbohydrates consumed by humans has been deceptively oversimplified due to a lack of analytical methods that possess the throughput, sensitivity, and resolution required to provide quantitative structural information. However, such information is becoming an integral part of understanding how specific glycan structu...

Bifidobacterium are a beneficial and dominant member of the breast-fed infant gut microbiome. However, the health benefits of Bifidobacterium are partially species dependent. Here we characterize the species and subspecies of Bifidobacterium present in breastfed infants around the world. Across populations, three distinct patterns of Bifidobacteriu...

Background Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are an abundant class of compounds found in human milk and have been linked to the development of the infant and specifically the brain, immune system, and gut microbiome. Objectives Advanced analytical methods were used to obtain relative quantitation of many structures in approximately 2000 samples f...

Immune-microbe interactions early in life influence the risk of allergies, asthma, and other inflammatory diseases. Breastfeeding guides healthier immune-microbe relationships by providing nutrients to specialized microbes that in turn benefit the host’s immune system. Such bacteria have co-evolved with humans but are now increasingly rare in moder...

Five years ago, with the editorial board of Frontiers in Nutrition, we took a leap of faith to outline the Goals for Nutrition Science – the way we see it ( 1 ). Now, in 2020, we can put ourselves to the test and take a look back. Without a doubt we got it right with several of the key directions. To name a few, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)...

Immune-microbe interactions early in life influence an individual’s risk of developing allergies, asthma and some autoimmune disorders. Breastfeeding helps guide the development of healthy immune-microbe relationships, in part by providing nutrients to specialized microbes that in turn benefit the host and its developing immune system. Such bacteri...

Polysaccharides are the most abundant biomolecules in nature, but are the least understood in terms of their chemical structures and biological functions. Polysaccharides cannot be simply sequenced because they are often highly branched and lack a uniform structure. Furthermore, large polymeric structures cannot be directly analyzed by mass spectro...

Human milk contains oxylipins involved in infant development. Although oxylipins have been identified in whole or skim milk, their localization within human milk cream, cell, and skim fractions is not known. This study determined the distribution of free and esterified oxylipins in cream, cell, and skim fractions of human milk. Out of 72 oxylipins...

Objectives Very little is known about dietary carbohydrate and intestinal microbe interactions during the introduction of solid foods in exclusively breastfed infants. The objective of the UC Davis IMiND study is to discover the relationships between plant-derived complementary foods commonly used in the early weaning period and the gut microbiome...

Lactation and breastfeeding support the short- and long-term health of both mother and infant, yet the success of these processes depend upon individual and combined factors of the pair. Complications during pregnancy and delivery greatly affect the likelihood that a mother will be capable of breastfeeding for at least the recommended 6 months. Gui...

Milk is a source of antimicrobial systems such as xanthine oxidoreductase, which has been proposed to modulate the oral and gut microbiota of infants. Heat treatments are applied to milk to ensure its microbial safety, however, the effects of heat on this antimicrobial enzyme are not known. The effects of batch pasteurization (BP), high-temperature...

Consumption of mothers' milk is associated with reduced incidence and severity of enteric infections, leading to reduced morbidity in breastfed infants. Fucosylated and sialylated human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) are important for both direct antimicrobial action - likely via a decoy effect - and indirect antimicrobial action through commensal gro...

Mammalian milk is a source of antimicrobial compounds such as xanthine oxidase (XO). The interplay of infant saliva, which contains the substrates for XO activity, and human milk containing XO has been recently shown to inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria. Based on the complex and protective mechanism observed in human milk, we hypothesized t...

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a psychiatric disorder affected by psychological, environmental, and biological factors. Individuals with AN avoid high-fat, high-calorie diets and have shown abnormal metabolism of fatty acids (FAs), which are essential for brain and cognitive/neuropsychiatric health. To clarify the relationship between FAs and AN, fasting...

Secretory Immunoglobulin A (SIgA) is central to mucosal immunity: represents one of the main immunological mechanisms of defense against the potential attack of pathogens. During lactation SIgA is produced by plasmablasts in the mammary gland and is present in breast milk, playing a vital role in the passive immunity of the newborn. Interestingly,...

Nationally representative data from mother-child dyads that capture human milk composition (HMC) and associated health outcomes are important for advancing the evidence to inform federal nutrition and related health programs, policies, and consumer information across the governments in the United States and Canada as well as in nongovernment sector...

Scope: The use of human milk products is increasing for high-risk infants. Human milk contains endogenous enzymes that comprise a dynamic proteolytic system; yet, biological properties of these enzymes and their activities in response to variations including pH within infants are unclear. Human milk has a neutral pH around 7, while infant gastric...

Background Personalized diet requires matching human genotypic and phenotypic features to foods that increase the chance of achieving a desired physiological health outcome. New insights and technologies will help to decipher the intricacies of diet-health relationships and create opportunities for breakthroughs in dietary interventions for persona...

Consumptions of fruit seed oils and meals could potentially improve cardiovascular health by reducing plasma total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). The study objective was to compare the effectiveness of expeller-pressed and solvent-extracted grape, tomato, pomegranate seed oils, and defatted pomegranate meals in lowering plasma and h...

Background: Proteins in human milk are essential and known to support the growth, development, protection, and health of the newborn. These proteins are highly modified by glycans that are currently being recognized as vital to protein structure, stability, function, and health of the intestinal mucosa. Although milk proteins have been studied, th...

CVD and associated metabolic diseases are linked to chronic inflammation, which can be modified by diet. The objective of the present study was to determine whether there is a difference in inflammatory markers, blood metabolic and lipid panels and lymphocyte gene expression in response to a high-fat dairy food challenge with or without milk fat gl...

The evolution of lactation and the composition, structures, and functions of milk's biopolymers illustrates that the Darwinian pressure on lactation selected for gene products with considerable structural complexity and diverse functions within the digestive system. For example, complex sugar polymers - oligosaccharides - possess unique properties...

“Peripheral blood samples were collected at the time of enrollment (week 0) and serum was stored at −80◦C until subsequent analysis. Participants were then randomized into two groups and provided with equal concentration and quantity of either dairy or soy supplement provided in powdered form in coded, single-serving bags. Both participants and res...

Over half of all children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have gastrointestinal (GI) co-morbidities including chronic constipation, diarrhea, and irritable bowel syndrome. The severity of these symptoms has been correlated with the degree of GI microbial dysbiosis. The study objective was to assess tolerability of a probiotic (Bifidobacterium...

Proportion of hard and soft stools with treatment. Mean ± SD proportion of total recorded stools that were A) hard consistency (1 or 2 on Bristol Stool Scale) or B) soft consistency (6 or 7 on Bristol Stool Scale) based on stool log data (n = 8 for each group). Significant differences in means (p<0.05) are denoted by an asterisk. D123, days 1, 2 an...

Wilcoxon P-values gastrointestinal and behavioral questionnaire data. (DOCX)

Non-parametric statistics for stool consistency from stool log data. (DOCX)

Aging populations experience a decline in adaptive immune system function also known as immunosenesence. Protein nutrition has been shown to stimulate and strengthen the immune system, and such approaches are needed for this growing segment of the population. A controlled, randomized, double blind pilot study was conducted to compare two different...

Glycans are a distinguishing constituent of milk; oligosaccharides are the third largest component of milk but are not digestible by the infant and have no direct nutritional benefit. A major benefit of these complex sugars is to establish a healthy commensal microbiome in infants. However, given they are found in urine and blood and absorbed throu...

Collaboration among scientists has a major influence on scientific progress. Such collaboration often results from scientific meetings, where scientists gather to present and discuss their research and to meet potential collaborators. However, most scientific meetings have inherent biases, such as the availability of research funding or the selecti...

The number of publications in years 2004–2015 per each IMGC attendee or other milk scientist by area of subfield. The number of publications in years 2004–2015 per (Figures A and B) IMGC attendee or (Figures C and D) Other milk scientist in the areas of (Figure A, Figure C) genetics or genomics or (Figure B, Figure D) not genetics or genomics. Publ...

The number of publications in years 2004–2015 by all IMGC attendees and other milk scientists by area of subfield. The number of publications in years 2004–2015 by (Figures A and B) IMGC attendees and (Figures C and D) Other milk scientists in the areas of (Figure A, Figure C) genetics or genomics or (Figure B, Figure D) not genetics or genomics. P...

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), characterized by a range of behavioral abnormalities and social deficits, display high incidence of gastrointestinal (GI) co-morbidities including chronic constipation and diarrhea. Research is now increasingly able to characterize the “fragile gut” in these children and understand the role that impair...

Objective To test for a difference in lymphocyte gene expression in response to a high fat dairy challenge with or without milk fat globule membrane (MFGM). Methods Data was analyzed from twenty individuals with BMI > 25.0 kg/m ² . On two separate occasions, each participant consumed a dairy‐based meal high in saturated fat with or without the add...

Triclosan is frequently used for its antimicrobial properties and has been detected in human serum, urine, and breast milk. Animal and molecular studies have shown that triclosan exerts a wide range of adverse health effects at both high (ppm) and low (ppb) concentrations. Since triclosan is of growing concern to human and environmental health, the...

Extracellular fungal glycolipid biosurfactants have attracted attention because productivities can be high, cheap substrates can be used, the molecules are secreted into the medium and the downstream processing is relatively simple. Three classes of extracellular fungal glycolipid biosurfactants have provided most of the scientific advances in this...

The gut microbiome in early life plays an important role for long-term health and is shaped in large part by diet. Probiotics may contribute to improvements in health, but they have not been shown to alter the community composition of the gut microbiome. Here, we found that breastfed infants could be stably colonized at high levels by provision of...

Objective A pilot study to determine lipoprotein classes and subclasses in premature infants and examine associations with nutritional intake, gestational age (GA), and morbidity. Study Design Plasma lipoprotein particle concentrations were analyzed in a cohort of 15 premature infants in the first 5 days of life and again at 2 weeks. Breast milk sa...

Provided are methods and yeast cultures for producing polyol lipids and polyol lipid compositions. (https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2017184884&recNum=1&maxRec=&office=&prevFilter=&sortOption=&queryString=&tab=PCT+Biblio)

Protein digestion is critical for infants. Dissimilarities between infants and adults in food intake and digestive physiology lead to distinct patterns of proteolysis between individuals. However, such differences are not well represented in many studies on protein digestion of baby foods. The complex biological structures of baby foods and the phy...

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex psychiatric disorder with high morbidity and mortality rates. While many individuals make full recoveries, up to a third of patients develop a chronic, treatment-resistant form of the illness that leads to a premature death in 15–20% of those affected. There have been few advances in treatment, both in terms of ps...

Microbial oils have been analyzed as alternatives to petroleum. However, just a handful of microbes have been successfully adapted to produce chemicals that can compete with their petroleum counterparts. One of the reasons behind the low success rate is the overall economic inefficiency of valorizing a single product. This study presents a lab-scal...

Scientific, technological, and economic progress over the last 100 years all but eradicated problems of widespread food shortage and nutrient deficiency in developed nations. But now society is faced with a new set of nutrition problems related to energy imbalance and metabolic disease, which require new kinds of solutions. Recent developments in t...

Abstract Background Inflammation is associated with increased bone resorption; the role of inflammation in postprandial bone turnover has not been explored. Consumption of milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) reduces inflammation in animal models. This study aimed to measure postprandial changes in bone turnover after intake of high saturated fat test...

Lactoferrin is a multifunctional glycoprotein found in the milk of most mammals. In addition to its well-known role of binding iron, lactoferrin carries many important biological functions, including the promotion of cell proliferation and differentiation, and as an anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-parasitic protein. These functions differ amon...

Milk proteins are a complex and diverse source of biological activities. Beyond their function, intact milk proteins also act as carriers of encrypted functional sequences that, when released as peptides, exert biological functions, including antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activity, which could contribute to the infant's competitive success. Re...

Mechanistic research suggests a unique evolutionary relationship between complex milk oligosaccharides and cognate bifidobacteria enriched in breast-fed infants. Bovine milk oligosaccharides (BMO) were recently identified as structurally and functionally similar to human milk oligosaccharides. The present single-blind three-way crossover study is t...

Mammary gland is the organ of milk component synthesis that provides the nutrients for growth and development of the mammalian neonate. In addition to macronutrients like proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids known for their roles in providing substrate and energy, a new class of components has been identified notably microRNA that have signaling rol...

Human milk plays a substantial role in the child growth, development and determines their nutritional and health status. Despite the importance of the proteins and glycoproteins in human milk, very little quantitative information especially on their site-specific glycosylation is known. As more functions of milk proteins and other components contin...

Background: The quantitation of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) is challenging because of the structural complexity and lack of standards. Objective: The objective of our study was to rapidly measure the absolute concentrations of HMOs in milk using LC-mass spectrometry (MS) and to determine the phenotypic secretor status of the mothers. Met...

The infant intestinal microbiota is often colonized by two subspecies of Bifidobacterium longum: subsp. infantis (B. infantis) and subsp. longum (B. longum). Competitive growth of B. infantis in the neonate intestine has been linked to the utilization of human milk oligosaccharides (HMO). However, little is known how B. longum consumes HMO. In this...

The ability to distinguish pathogens from self-antigens is one of the most important functions of the immune system. However, this simple self versus non-self assignment belies the complexity of the immune response to threats. Immune responses vary widely and appropriately according to a spectrum of threats and only recently have the mechanisms for...

Background The development of probiotics as therapies to cure or prevent disease lags far behind that of other investigational medications. Rigorously designed phase I clinical trials are nearly non-existent in the field of probiotic research, which is a contributing factor to this disparity. As a consequence, how to appropriately dose probiotics t...

Glycans in breast milk are abundant and found as either free oligosaccharides or conjugated to proteins and lipids. Free human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) function as prebiotics by stimulating the growth of beneficial bacteria while preventing the binding of harmful bacteria to intestinal epithelial cells. Bacteria have adapted to the glycan-rich...

Introduction Plasma fatty acids are derived from preformed sources in the diet and de novo synthesis through the action of desaturase and elongase enzymes. Objective This study was designed to examine the elongation of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA, 18:3n6) into dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA, 20:3n6) over an 8-h period using both targeted gas chrom...

Introduction—Plasma fatty acids are derived from preformed sources in the diet and de novo synthesis through the action of desaturase and elongase enzymes. Objective—This study was designed to examine the elongation of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA, 18:3n6) into dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA, 20:3n6) over an 8-h period using both targeted gas chrom...

Of 1600 known species of yeasts, about 70 are known to be oleaginous, defined as being able to accumulate over 20 % intracellular lipids. These yeasts have value for fundamental and applied research. A survey of yeasts from the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, University of California Davis was performed to identify additional oleaginous species wit...

California's rural agricultural communities face an increased burden of obesity and metabolic disease. The present objective is to define the social and environmental influences to child obesity and physical activity within Mexican-origin communities in California's Central Valley. A range of data (anthropometric, socioeconomic, demographic, cultur...

Methods Thirty‐six obese individuals were asked to fast for 12 hours prior to a baseline blood draw, on four separate visits separated by one to two weeks. Inflammatory markers, including serum amyloid A (SAA) and C‐reactive protein (CRP), cytokines, and adhesion markers were measured using multiplex assays. Data was analyzed in Microsoft Excel and...

Meals high in SFA, particularly palmitate, are associated with postprandial inflammation and insulin resistance. Milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) has anti-inflammatory properties that may attenuate the negative effects of SFA-rich meals. Our objective was to examine the postprandial metabolic and inflammatory response to a high-fat meal composed of...

Dietary recommendations suggest decreased consumption of SFA to minimise CVD risk; however, not all foods rich in SFA are equivalent. To evaluate the effects of SFA in a dairy food matrix, as Cheddar cheese, v . SFA from a vegan-alternative test meal on postprandial inflammatory markers, a randomised controlled cross-over trial was conducted in twe...

Infant fecal samples are commonly studied to investigate the impacts of breastfeeding on the development of the microbiota and subsequent health effects. Comparisons of infants living in different geographic regions and environmental contexts are needed to aid our understanding of evolutionarily-selected milk adaptations. However, the preservation...