A Comparison of Vitamin and Lutein Concentrations in Breast Milk from Four Asian Countries

Abstract

Vitamins are the essential elements for human life and, particularly, for infant health. Human milk is the best source of nutrients for newborns, however, the information of vitamins in Asian maternal milk is still limited. In this study, we have collected 580 Asian maternal milk samples from Korea (n = 254), China (n = 137), Pakistan (n = 92), and Vietnam (n = 97). The vitamin concentrations, including vitamin B-groups (8 vitamins), fat-soluble vitamin (retinol, D, E, K) and lutein in the breast milk of were investigated. The concentration of thiamin (B1), biotin (B7), and folic acid (B9) in mother’s milk of four countries were not considerably different, while riboflavin (B2), pantothenic acid (B5), and pyridoxine (B6) level in Vietnam samples were significantly lower than those in other countries. In contrast, retinol (A) and tocopherol (E) were found to be higher levels in Vietnamese maternal milk. Korean and Chinese maternal milk had low concentrations of retinol that may cause vitamin A deficiency in children. However, Chinese mother’s milk was distinguished with a high concentration of lutein. Pakistani mother’s milk was observed as having a significant problem of folic acid (B9) deficiency. Regardless of the country, vitamin B12, K, and D did not seem to be provided sufficiently through maternal milk. The moderate positive correlations were found between vitamin concentrations in each country and the pooled sample. The data obtained in this study were able to provide vital information to assess the nutritional status of breast milk in Asian countries and contributed to the efforts of ensuring the best nutrition for Asian children.

Carotenoids and Vitamin A in Breastmilk of Hong Kong Lactating Mothers and Their Relationships with Maternal Diet

“…This finding is noteworthy, as vitamin A deficiency may occur in the children of exclusive breastfeeding mothers with low breastmilk vitamin A, which will hinder the infants’ health and development. A similar situation was reported among Chinese lactating mothers in a recent study [ 24 ], which indicated a high risk of vitamin A deficiency in Chinese mothers and infants, as a high percentage of Chinese populations (44%) had milk retinol level less than 1.05 µmol/L. Vitamin A is essential for newborn development, epithelia function and protection against infections.…”

Profile of Folate in Breast Milk from Chinese Women over 1–400 Days Postpartum

“…Given that 5-methyl-THF was the predominant folate species in breast milk, more studies on 5-methyl-THF supplementation in the maternal population should be carried out in the future. In addition, free folic acid needs to be differentiated from the folate levels in breast milk, as free folic acid is mainly introduced via supplementary intake or the oxidation of reduced folates, meaning it can be traceable or below the LOQ in the breast milk of supplement-nonuser donors [ 50 ]. For this reason, this study used rat serum as the source of deconjugase to convert the polyglutamate forms into the monoglutamate form to ensure the complete extraction of all folate species in breast milk.…”

Breastfeeding and vitamin D

“…A recent study compared vitamin concentrations of the breast milk of women from South Korea, China, Pakistan, and Vietnam. 80) However, the concentrations of vitamin D2 and D3 in the breast milk samples from all four countries were lower than the limit of detection of D2 = 0.5 ng/mL and D3 = 1 ng/mL. Three studies in Japan evaluated vitamin D concentrations of breast milk.…”

“…However, there is a dearth of studies on vitamin D content of the breast milk of Asian mothers. A recent study compared vitamin concentrations of the breast milk of women from South Korea, China, Pakistan, and Vietnam [ 80 ]. However, the concentrations of vitamin D 2 and D 3 in the breast milk samples from all 4 countries were lower than the limit of detection of D 2 =0.5 ng/mL and D 3 =1 ng/mL.…”