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Noninvasive Sampling of Mucosal Lining Fluid for the Quantification of In Vivo Upper Airway Immune-mediator Levels
Published on: August 7, 2017
New approach shows no association between maternal milk fatty acid composition and childhood wheeze or asthma
C A Logan1, S Brandt2, M Wabitsch2
1Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
Insights
Maternal breast milk fatty acid composition showed no clear link to childhood wheezing or asthma up to age 13. Further research is needed to explore these associations in diverse populations.
Area of Science:
- Human Nutrition
- Pediatric Allergy
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Previous studies suggested breast milk fatty acids may influence infant atopic eczema and sensitization.
- Research on breast milk fatty acids and later childhood wheeze or asthma is limited, especially concerning data correlations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between maternal milk fatty acid composition and childhood wheezing phenotypes and asthma up to 13 years.
- To employ advanced statistical methods to analyze compositional data of breast milk fatty acids.
Main Methods:
- Breast milk samples were collected at 6 weeks and 6 months postpartum from the Ulm Birth Cohort Study.
- Fatty acid concentrations (n=28) were analyzed using gas-liquid chromatography, with data transformed via centered log ratio (CLR) method.
- Modified Poisson regression was used to calculate adjusted risk ratios for wheezing and asthma, controlling for compositional data correlations.
Main Results:
- No significant associations were found between overall breast milk fatty acid composition and specific wheezing phenotypes.
- No straightforward evidence linked breast milk fatty acid profiles to doctor-diagnosed asthma in children up to age 13.
Conclusions:
- This study reports null associations between breast milk fatty acids and childhood respiratory outcomes, using robust statistical methods.
- Findings may be influenced by cohort-specific breastfeeding factors; future studies should analyze both breast milk and formula, including all infant feeding sources.
Background:
Previous observational studies have implied breastmilk fatty acid composition may play a role in the development of atopic eczema or atopic sensitization in breastfed infants and toddlers. However, studies investigating associations with wheeze and asthma in later childhood are scarce and did not account for inherent correlation of compositional data. Our aim was to explore the association of maternal milk fatty acid composition with childhood wheezing phenotypes and asthma up to age 13 years using a new statistical approach.
Methods:
Breastmilk was collected 6 weeks and 6 months postdelivery in the Ulm Birth Cohort Study (n=720 and n=454, respectively). Concentrations of 28 fatty acids were measured by high-resolution capillary gas-liquid chromatography. To control for constant-sum constraint, concentration data were transformed using the centered log ratio method. Compositional biplots and correlation matrices were used to group centered log ratio transformed fatty acids. Adjusted risk ratios with parent-reported wheezing phenotypes and doctor-diagnosed asthma were computed using a modified Poisson regression.
Results:
We observed no straightforward evidence of associations between overall breastmilk fatty acid composition and specific wheeze phenotypes or doctor-diagnosed asthma.
Conclusion:
Using appropriate statistical methodology, we report null associations. These findings may partly be attributable to several cohort-specific factors associated with breastfeeding and breastmilk collection. Further studies could improve on ours by analyzing samples of breastmilk and formula and by including all children for whom these are exclusively or together the major source of fatty acids in the first months of life.
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