Will lutein supplementation of lactating women affect the lutein content of milk and the lutein content of maternal and preterm infant plasma?

Abstract

Breast milk and blood were obtained from 38 lactating women. Twenty one of these women took a lutein supplement of 12 mg per day weeks five through eight of lactation. Blood was also obtained from five preterm infants whose mothers took the supplement. Breast milk and plasma carotenoids were analyzed by high‐pressure liquid chromatography. Maternal plasma lutein increased 241 percent after four weeks of the lutein supplement (10.6 ± 7.3 to 36.1 ± 13.1 mcg/dL (p=0.000). By four weeks post supplement, plasma lutein returned to baseline (10.4 ± 3.3 mcg/dL). Non‐supplemented women had no change in plasma lutein (10.1 ± 5.4 mcg/dL [4 wks], 9.8 ± 5.1 mcg/dL [8 wks], 10.3 ± 5.6 mcg/dL [12 wks]). Breast milk lutein content in non‐supplemented women was 4.3 ± 3.4 mcg/dL (4 wks), 3.8 ± 3.6 mcg/dL (8 wks) and 4.5 ± 5.1 mcg/dL (12 wks). Lutein‐supplemented women had breast milk lutein increase from 3.1 ± 2.7 to 11.0 ± 7.7, after only one week, to 14.5 ± 16.4 mcg/dL (p=0.011) after four weeks and returned to baseline four weeks post supplement (3.8 ± 4.3 mcg/dL). Plasma lutein increased 535 percent (1.7 ± 1.1 to 10.8 ± 1.8 mcg/dL) in the five breast‐fed preterm infants after supplementation of their mothers with lutein for four weeks. Giving a lutein supplement to lactating women produced a dramatic increase in the lutein content of their plasma and breast milk and in the lutein content of preterm infant plasma. USDA grant and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals