Abstract
Breastfed infants have a reduced risk of becoming overweight and/or obese later in life. This protective effect has been partly attributed to leptin present in breastmilk. This study investigated 24-h variations of skim milk leptin and its relationship with breastmilk macronutrients and infant breastfeeding patterns. Exclusive breastfeeding mothers of term singletons (n = 19; age 10 ± 5 weeks) collected pre- and post-feed breastmilk samples for every breastfeed over a 24-h period and test-weighed their infants to determine milk intake at every breastfeed over a 24-h period. Samples (n = 454) were analysed for leptin, protein, lactose and fat content. Skim milk leptin concentration did not change with feeding (p = 0.184). However, larger feed volumes (>105 g) were associated with a decrease in post-feed leptin levels (p = 0.009). There was no relationship between the change in leptin levels and change in protein (p = 0.313) or lactose levels (p = 0.587) between pre- and post-feed milk, but there was a trend for a positive association with changes in milk fat content (p = 0.056). Leptin concentration significantly increased at night (p < 0.001) indicating a possible 24-h pattern. Leptin dose (ng) was not associated with the time between feeds (p = 0.232). Further research should include analysis of whole breastmilk and other breastmilk fractions to extend these findings.
Highlights
Breastfeeding is critical for the optimal growth, protection and development of the term infant.Longer breastfeeding periods have been associated with reduced risk of the infant becoming overweight and/or obese later in life and developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9].Infants allowed to breastfeed on demand develop better control of appetite and feeding behaviours when introduced to solid foods than formula-fed infants [10,11]
Given the negative association between breastmilk leptin and infant growth [1,20], it is likely that breastmilk leptin may influence the frequency and/or milk volume taken by the infant
To further explore changes in leptin, protein and lactose concentrations over a 24-h period, we considered the proposed rhythm of changes in blood leptin [32] and the fact that mothers breastfed on demand in this study
Summary
Infants allowed to breastfeed on demand develop better control of appetite and feeding behaviours when introduced to solid foods than formula-fed infants [10,11] These effects have been mainly attributed to the composition of human milk, the presence of appetite control hormones, the mode of feeding has been implicated [12,13,14]. Given the negative association between breastmilk leptin and infant growth [1,20], it is likely that breastmilk leptin may influence the frequency and/or milk volume taken by the infant This has never been investigated despite the reduced risk of obesity and other NCDs breastfeeding is known to confer
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