Research

Fatty acid patterns early after premature birth, simultaneously analysed in mothers' food, breast milk and serum phospholipids of mothers and infants

Karl-Göran Sabel¹ , Cristina Lundqvist-Persson^1,2 , Elsa Bona¹ , Max Petzold³ and Birgitta Strandvik⁴

¹  Department of Paediatrics, Borås Hospital, Borås, Sweden

²  Skaraborg Institute, Skövde, Sweden

³  The Nordic School of Public Health, Göteborg, Sweden

⁴  The Department of Paediatrics, the Sahlgrenska Academy, Göteborg University Göteborg, Sweden

author email corresponding author email

Lipids in Health and Disease 2009, 8:20doi:10.1186/1476-511X-8-20

Published:	10 June 2009

Abstract

Background

The supply of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids via the placenta is interrupted in premature infants, making them exclusively dependent on breast milk, which varies in fatty acid (FA) concentrations depending on the mother's diet.

Objective

To in a longitudinal study explore the relation between FA status in mothers and infants from an unselected cohort of prematures, not requiring intensive care.

Design

Breast milk and mothers' and infants' plasma phospholipid FA concentrations from birth to 44 weeks of gestational age were analysed and compared with mothers' food intake, assessed using a 3-day diary. Fatty acids were analysed by capillary gas-liquid chromatography.

Results

The energy intake was low in 75% of mothers, and 90% had low intake of essential FAs (EFAs). Dietary linoleic acid (LA, 18:2w6), but not w3 FAs, correlated to concentrations in breast milk. Infants' plasma and breast milk correlated for arachidonic (AA, 20:4w6), eicosapentaenoic (EPA, 20:5w3) and docosahexaenoic (DHA, 22:6w3) acids. A high concentration of mead acid (20:3w9) in the infants at birth correlated negatively to the concentrations of LA, AA and w3 FAs. Infants of mothers who stopped breastfeeding during the study period showed decreased DHA concentrations and increased w6/w3 ratios, with the opposite FA pattern seen in the mothers' plasma.

Conclusion

Although dietary w3 FAs were insufficient in an unselected cohort of mothers of premature infants, breastfeeding resulted in increased levels of DHA in the premature infants at the expense of the mothers, suggesting a general need to increase dietary w3 FAs during pregnancy and lactation.