(Poly)phenols in Human Breast Milk and their health benefits for the newborn

Human breast milk is the first food source available to newborns and is responsible for healthy growth and development during the first months of life. Human breast milk contains vitamins, hormones, cytokines, microbiota, and immune cells that are responsible for such healthy conditions. Nonetheless, knowledge of the vast array of molecules present in human breast milk and their potential health effects is still lacking. The effects of mothers’ diets on the molecules present in human breast milk are also generally unknown. The health benefits of (poly)phenols have been largely increasing but their presence in breast milk has been put largely aside. The impact of the mother’s diet in the presence and quantification of these molecules in milk has also been overlooked. Above all, the potential benefits of (poly)phenols for newborns are just a vast emptiness of what is known about (poly)phenol research. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This work has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 804229. INOVA4Health Research Unit (LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-007344). Authors would also like to acknowledge FCT for financial support of D.C. (2020.04630.BD). ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data reviewed in this manuscript are contained within the cited studies