Do mothers with high sodium levels in their breast milk have high depression and anxiety scores?

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the possible association of high breast milk sodium levels with postpartum depression and anxiety.MethodsA total of 150 mothers and their healthy, exclusively breastfed newborns aged 8 to 15 days were recruited. Mothers were asked to complete scales for evaluation of postnatal depression and anxiety following an interview for consent and sociodemographic data collection. Breast milk samples were obtained to measure sodium and potassium (K) levels.ResultsForty-nine mothers had higher than expected breast milk Na concentrations and a high Na/K ratio. These mothers scored significantly higher on the scales of postnatal depression and state anxiety (P = 0.018 and P = 0.048, respectively).ConclusionsThis study shows that compared to normal breast milk Na levels and Na/K ratio, high breast milk Na and high Na/K ratio, with possible serious consequences in infants, are associated with maternal depressive and anxious symptoms in the postpartum period.

Nutritional and immunological factors in breast milk: A role in the intergenerational transmission from maternal psychopathology to child development

“…In the same paper, no significant association was found between postpartum trait anxiety and β-endorphin milk content (Zanardo et al, 2001). This finding is in accordance with results previously mentioned, where high level of milk sodium correlated with state anxiety only (Ozbek et al, 2008;Serim Demirgoren et al, 2017), and support the hypothesis that state, but not trait anxiety, might be the strongest predictor of milk content of some nonimmunological molecules, such as sodium and β-endorphin.…”

“…However, one study found a negative association between postpartum state and trait anxiety scores, and sIgA milk levels (Kawano and Emori, 2015). This is in contrast with results previously described where only state anxiety, but not trait anxiety, was associated with high ions levels in milk (Ozbek et al, 2008;Serim Demirgoren et al, 2017).…”

“…Two studies investigated the correlation between postpartum maternal anxiety and ions concentration in breast milk. In both studies the authors found a positive association between postpartum state anxiety, but not trait anxiety, and milk sodium levels (Ozbek et al, 2008;Serim Demirgoren et al, 2017). Although both state and trait anxiety are common in the postpartum period (Giakoumaki et al, 2009), findings from the two above studies might suggest that the transient anxiety symptoms occurring postnatally in a specific moment ("state anxiety") might affect more prominently the composition of breast milk, compared to the individual's personality and proneness to anxiety ("trait anxiety").…”

“…The first study did not report any association (Ozbek et al, 2008). On the contrary, in the second study, mothers with postpartum depression had higher sodium levels and sodium/potassium ratio (Serim Demirgoren et al, 2017). Finally, one study examined the association between postpartum depression and concentration of metals in breast milk.…”

Child Development, Maternal Depression and Associated Factors: A Longitudinal Study

“…For Thiengo, Santos, Fonseca, Abelha and Lovisi (2012), maternal depression increased the risk of prematurity and low weight. There is evidence that maternal depression is associated with difficulties in breastfeeding (Demirgoren et al, 2017), less commitment to caring for the baby (Taraban et al, 2017), higher level of cortisol in newborns (stress hormone) (Lucci, Otta, David, & Chelini, 2016), and behavior problems in children up to six years old (Gerhardt, 2017;Gerstein, Woodman, Burnson, Cheng, & Poehlmann-Tynan, 2017).…”