A study on lipid content and fatty acid of breast milk and its association with mother's diet composition

Introduction: The aim of our study was to determine the content of fat and fatty acid composition of breast milk, and its association with the mother's diet. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among pregnant mothers who came to health care centers for last prenatal care in Isfahan, Iran. Eight to 72 hours after delivery, 2 to 5 ml of colostrum was collected by hand into tubes. They were kept in an ice box and sent within half an hour to the collaborating health centre for freezing at -20 degrees C until analysis, which was performed at the laboratory of NNFTRI in Tehran. The milk samples were homogenized by Vortex (Heidolph Vortex Shaker REAX 1. 220 V. 30 W Germany) at 2400 rpm for 30 sec. Results: The data of 86 out of 91 samples were complete. The mean maternal age and gestational age was 28.37 +/- 5.55 years old and 38.7 +/- 1.2 weeks, respectively. The content of fat was 2.17 +/- 1.22 g/100 ml breast milk. Arachidonic acid (AA, 20:4n-6) and docosohexaanoic acid DHA (22:6n-3) made 0.8 +/- 0.4% and 0.3 +/- 0.2% of total fatty acids. Although the AA/DHA ratio in our study is suitable, but the content of DHA is nearly low. Conclusion: Dietary habits of women in reproductive age group should be improved, with special emphasis on the fatty acid content of breast milk. This may have long-term impact on health promotion and disease prevention.