Abstract
BackgroundOptimal nutrition for lactating mothers is importance for mother and infants’ health and well-being. We determined the nutrient intake and dietary changes during the first 3-month of lactation, and its potential effect on health and disease risk.MethodPersonal interviews were conducted to collect a 24h diet recall questionnaire from 199 healthy lactating women in the postpartum days 2, 7, 30, 90 and healthy 58 non-pregnant women served as the controls.ResultsWe found in lactating women (1) the mean daily energy and carbohydrate intake was lower than that of the Chinese Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI, 2600 Kcal, 357.5 ~ 422.5g) by 11% ~ 17% and 33% ~ 49%, respectively; (2) the fat intake increased from 3% to 13%, which was 9 ~ 77% higher than the RNI (57 ~ 86.7g); (3) the protein intake exceeded the RNI of 85g by 32 ~ 53%; (4) the total calories consumed from carbohydrate (39%-44%), fat (34% ~ 42%) and protein (20%-23%) failed to meet Chinese RNI (5) the intake of vitamin C, B1, folate, zinc, dietary fiber, and calcium was 5% ~ 73% lower than the RNI while vitamin B2, B3, E, iron and selenium intake was 20% to 3 times higher than the RNI. Nutrient intake in the control group was lower for all nutrients than the recommended RNI.ConclusionLactating women on a self-selected diet did not meet the Chinese RNI for many important micronutrients, which may influence the nutritional composition of breast milk and thus impact the potential health of mothers and infants. RNI should consider the regional dietary habits and culture. A single national RNI is not applicable for all of China. Nutritional education into the community is needed.
Highlights
Optimal nutrition for lactating mothers is importance for mother and infants’ health and well-being
Bonferroni adjustment for multiple comparisons of the lactating women compared with the control group of women (P < 0.01) and a repeated measures analysis of Greenhouse-Geisser adjustment for asphericity for 4 different time points comparison of the lactating women. 2RNI’s for control women are for a moderate level of physical activity. 3Conversion based on the Chinese RNI for fat providing 20%~30% of the total energy per day. 4Conversion based on the Chinese RNI for carbohydrate providing 55%~65% of the total energy per day. 5RE: retinol equivalent. 6DFE: dietary folic acid equivalent
The control group of women had similar nutrient intake patterns of lower energy (38%), lower carbohydrate (57% ~ 63%) and higher levels of protein (14%) than that recommended by the RNI for the moderate physical activity level of an adult
Summary
Optimal nutrition for lactating mothers is importance for mother and infants’ health and well-being. The nutritional content of human breast-milk has been shown to enhance many biochemical and metabolic pathways critical to the development of most organ systems including the digestive, cardiovascular, pulmonary, immune, endocrine and nervous system [19,20,21,22]. These metabolic events are vital for maintaining the normal function and health of newborns, those born prematurely or with a low birth weight, and that often persist long after nursing [19,23]
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