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Abstract
Background & aimsBreastfeeding is beneficial for mothers and infants. Underlying mechanisms and biochemical mediators thus need to be investigated to develop and support improved infant nutrition practices promoting the child health. We analysed the relation between maternal breast milk composition and infant metabolism.Methods196 pairs of mothers and infants from a European research project (PreventCD) were studied. Maternal milk samples collected at month 1 and month 4 after birth were analysed for macronutrient classes, hormone, and fatty acid (FA) content. Phospholipids, acylcarnitines, and amino acids were measured in serum samples of 4-month old infants. Associations between milk components and infant metabolites were analysed with spearman correlation and linear mixed effect models (LME). P-values were corrected for multiple testing (PLME).ResultsMonth 1 milk protein content was strongly associated with infant serum lyso-phosphatidylcholine (LPC) 14:0 (PLME = 0.009). Month 1 milk insulin was associated to infant acetylcarnitine (PLME = 0.01). There were no associations between milk protein content and serum amino acids and milk total fat content and serum polar lipids. Middle- and odd-chain FA% in breast milk at both ages were significantly related to serum LPC and sphingomyelins (SM) species in infant serum (all PLME<0.05), while FA% 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 percentages were significantly associated to serum LPC 22:6 (PLME = 1.91×10−4/7.93×10−5) in milk only at month 4. Other polyunsaturated fatty acids and hormones in milk showed only weak associations with infant serum metabolites.ConclusionsInfant serum LPC are influenced by breast milk FA composition and, intriguingly, milk protein content in early but not late lactation. LPC 14:0, previously found positively associated with obesity risk, was the serum metabolite which was the most strongly associated to milk protein content. Thus, LPC 14:0 might be a key metabolite not only reflecting milk protein intake in infants, but also relating high protein content in milk or infant formula to childhood obesity risk.
Highlights
Compared to infant formula feeding, breastfeeding (BF) is beneficial for mothers but for their infants, for example with respect to reduced risks for infections and, with less clinical evidence to date, to later obesity and diabetes type 2, and promoting cognitive development [1,2,3,4]
Month 1 milk protein content was strongly associated with infant serum lyso-phosphatidylcholine (LPC) 14:0 (PLME = 0.009)
Month 1 milk insulin was associated to infant acetylcarnitine (PLME = 0.01)
Summary
Compared to infant formula feeding, breastfeeding (BF) is beneficial for mothers but for their infants, for example with respect to reduced risks for infections and, with less clinical evidence to date, to later obesity and diabetes type 2, and promoting cognitive development [1,2,3,4]. Despite providing a potential mechanism linking milk and disease, those and other studies are subject to limitations since they only describe FA% in infant serum and give no information on the exact molecular structure of the affected lipid molecules. We have previously shown that dietary polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) provided to infants are dominately incorporated into phosphatidylcholine species containing an ether bond (PCae) [18]. These lipids exhibit different chemical and physiological properties compared to the major class of diacyl-linked phosphatidylcholines (PCaa) or triacylglycerols [19], highlighting the importance to determine the molecular structure of the lipids. We analysed the relation between maternal breast milk composition and infant metabolism.
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