The large intestine of breast-fed infants is colonized predominantly by bi®dobacteria, which have a protective e ect against acute diarrhea. In this study we report for the ®rst time the identi®cation of human milk peptides that selectively stimulate the growth of bi®dobacteria. Several bi®dogenicpeptideswerepuri®edchromatographically from pepsin-treated human milk and identi®ed as proteolytically generated fragments from the secretory component of the soluble polyimmunoglobulin receptor and lactoferrin;.
