Factors affecting human colostrum fatty acid profile: A case study.

Vassilia J Sinanoglou,Panagiotis Zoumpoulakis,Dionisis Cavouras,Stella Paliatsiou,Paraskevi Volaki,Theodora Boutsikou,Dimitra Z Lantzouraki,Despina D Briana,Ariadne Malamitsi-Puchner,Sotiris Bratakos,Juan J Loor

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0175817

Vassilia J Sinanoglou, Panagiotis Zoumpoulakis + Show 9 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0175817

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Abstract

The role of maternal colostrum to infant development has been extensively studied and presented. Among the main factors which contribute to breast milk composition are maternal diet, age and body mass index, parity, duration of pregnancy and stage of lactation. This study aims to investigate the potential impact of several factors including demographic (i.e. maternal age and nationality) on the colostrum fatty acid profile. Colostrum was collected the third day postpartum in a Greek maternity hospital. Certain lipid quality indices and fatty acid ratios were estimated and results were statistically processed. The main identified fatty acids were palmitic (C16:0), oleic (C18:1ω-9), and linoleic (C18:2ω-6) acids. Among fatty acids, saturated fatty acids predominated (47.61%), followed by monounsaturated fatty acids (39.26%), while polyunsaturated fatty acids had the lowest proportion (13.13%). Values of lipid quality indices were within the reported in the literature ranges. Maternal body mass index, nationality, age, mode of delivery, gender and fetal weight percentile were studied in respect to their potential influence on the fatty acid profile of colostrum fat. Results suggest that colostrum fatty acid profile was mainly dependent on maternal nationality and age rather than mode of delivery and maternal BMI. Regarding the effect of maternal nationality, significant differences were found for saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. Of the most interesting findings is that colostrum fat from older (≥35 years) mothers had less saturated fat and more appropriate LQIs values. Finally, a reversed correlation was observed between the customized centile of the infants and the colostrum fat content.

Highlights

Maternal milk contains all the nutrients an infant needs in the right amounts and in an absorbable form
Long chain fatty acids (LC-FA) in maternal milk originate either from maternal diet or originate from adipose tissue and liver metabolism; whereas short and medium chain fatty acids are synthesized de novo within the mammary gland.[2,5]
The Saturated fatty acids (SFA) proportion of the examined colostrum samples was higher than that reported by Silva et al.[16] for the mature breast milk of Brazilian women (39.7%), by Fares et al.[17] for the preterm colostrum of Tunisian women (39.6%), and by Nishimura et al.[18] for the mature breast milk of women living far from the coastal area of Brazil (42.67%)

Summary

Introduction

Maternal milk contains all the nutrients an infant needs in the right amounts and in an absorbable form. It contains more than 200 functional components, including lipids, various proteins, enzymes, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and macronutrient. Maternal colostrum and mature milk contain 1.9–2.3% and 3.5–4.5% of lipids respectively, comprising mostly triglycerides.[3] The most abundant saturated (SFA) and monounsaturated (MUFA) fatty acids in maternal milk triglycerides are palmitic (C16:0) and oleic (C18:1ω-9) acids followed by the essential linoleic (C18:2ω-6) and alpha-linolenic (C18:3ω-3) acids.[3] Arachidonic (C20:4ω-6), eicosatrienoic (C20:3ω-6), docosahexaenoic (C22:6ω-3) (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic (C20:5ω-3) (EPA) acids are identified in minor proportions.[4] Long chain fatty acids (LC-FA) in maternal milk originate either from maternal diet or originate from adipose tissue and liver metabolism; whereas short and medium chain fatty acids are synthesized de novo within the mammary gland.[2,5]

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