The effects of maternal omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on breast milk fatty acid composition

Abstract

Breast milk is the first source of omega-3 fatty acids (FA) for infants. We hypothesized that maternal omega-3 FAs supplementation affects the FA composition of breast milk. Thirtysix women received 950 mg omega-3 polyunsaturated (PUFA) supplementation per day for 9 months from 22-24 weeks of pregnancy until the 6 months of lactation and 26 women were enrolled as controls. Demographic data and nutritional status were taken by a questionnaire. Breast milk samples were collected at just after birth and 6 months of lactation. Fatty acids were analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Data was assessed using SPSS 22.0 software. The supplementation increased the level of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) while decreased the level of saturated fatty acids (SFA) in breast milk. The ratio of omega-6/omega-3 FAs was also decreased in the supplemented mothers' milk. In conclusion the maternal supplementation of omega-3 FAs improved the DHA and EPA levels.

Comparative proteome profiling in exosomes derived from porcine colostrum versus mature milk reveals distinct functional proteomes

“…Besides these findings, it is still not clear how the effects of ω-3 and ω-6 PUFA in the diets fed during gestation and lactation may be transmitted from the mother to the offspring. The dietary supplementation of ω-3 PUFA is known to induce changes in the milk fatty acid composition in several mammals, including pigs (YIN et al, 2017;NGUYEN et al, 2020), cows (MOALLEM, 2018;PALMQUIST, 2009), andhumans (MAZURIER et al, 2017;BÜYÜKUSLU et al, 2018). The use of ω-3 PUFA enriched diets has also been associated with an overall reduction in milk fat percentage of dairy cows (MOALLEM, 2018;MUSTAFA et al, 2003;DONOVAN et al, 2000), although no changes in milk protein (MOALLEM, 2018;MUSTAFA et al, 2003;AKRAIM et al, 2007) or milk lactose (DONOVAN et al, 2000;MOALLEM et al, 2013;GONTHIER et al, 2005) percentages have been found, and reports on the milk EV fraction were unavailable until now.…”