Abstract
Breastfeeding has been implicated in the establishment of infant appetite regulation, feeding patterns and body composition (BC). A holistic approach is required to elucidate relationships between infant and maternal BC and contributing factors, such as breastfeeding parameters. Associations between maternal and breastfed term infant BC (n = 20) and feeding parameters during first 12 months of lactation were investigated. BC was measured at 2, 5, 9 and/or 12 months postpartum with ultrasound skinfolds (US; infants only) and bioimpedance spectroscopy (infants and mothers). 24-h milk intake (MI) and feeding frequency (FFQ) were measured. Higher FFQ was associated with larger 24-h MI (p ≤ 0.003). Higher 24-h MI was associated with larger infant fat mass (FM) (US: p ≤ 0.002), greater percentage FM (US: p ≤ 0.008), greater FM index (FMI) (US: p ≤ 0.001) and lower fat-free mass index (FFMI) (US: p = 0.015). Lower FFQ was associated with both larger FFM (US: p ≤ 0.001) and FFMI (US: p < 0.001). Greater maternal adiposity was associated with smaller infant FFM measured with US (BMI: p < 0.010; %FM: p = 0.004; FMI: p < 0.011). Maternal BC was not associated with FFQ or 24-h MI. These results reinforce that early life is a critical window for infant programming and that breastfeeding may influence risk of later disease via modulation of BC.
Highlights
The importance of lactocrine programming has been highlighted recently, with breastfeeding identified as one of the most economical preventative measures for non-communicable diseases (NCD)including obesity later in life [1,2,3,4,5]
feeding frequency (FFQ) and 24-h milk intake (MI) are implicated in development of infant fat mass (FM) while maternal body composition (BC) is associated with infant fat-freepre-pregnancy mass (FFM), all of these emphasizing the critical role of breastfeeding in programming growth in the first 12 months of life (Figure 7)
We have previously reported that smaller, shorter and leaner, but not younger infants fed more frequently in a cohort of 2 and 5 month-old fully breastfed infants [32] and we have extended this relationship to FFM, it is not clear which comes first: are smaller infants in greater demand for nutrients, or is higher FFQ/MI provide more human milk (HM) components that may regulate/slow down the growth? The results of this study were not uniform between self-reported
Summary
The importance of lactocrine programming has been highlighted recently, with breastfeeding identified as one of the most economical preventative measures for non-communicable diseases (NCD)including obesity later in life [1,2,3,4,5]. The development of body composition (BC) in early life is known to play an important role in the programming of these health outcomes [6]. This reduction in risk may be a result of multiple mechanisms associated with composition of human milk (HM) and with infant breastfeeding patterns and behavior [7,8,9], all of which may influence the growth and development of breastfed infants. Nutrients 2018, 10, 45 focus 2018, of at limited research on infant growth and BC development has been on the Nutrients. These findings suggest a pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), and to a lesser extent on the of the volume of HMare and dose-dependent effect of breastfeeding on development of infant
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