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Breast Milk Lipidome Is Associated with Early Growth Trajectory in Preterm Infants

Marie-Cécile Alexandre-Gouabau1, Thomas Moyon2, Véronique Cariou3

  • 1Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 1280, Physiopathologie des Adaptations Nutritionnelles, Institut des Maladies de L'appareil Digestif (IMAD), Centre de Recherche en Nutrition Humaine Ouest (CRNH), 44093 Nantes, CEDEX 1, France. Marie-Cecile.Alexandre-Gouabau@univ-nantes.fr.

Nutrients
|February 1, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Breast milk

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal nutrition
  • Lipidomics
  • Infant growth

Background:

  • Human milk is the recommended nutrition for preterm infants.
  • Early growth patterns in preterm infants are critical for long-term health outcomes.
  • The specific components of breast milk influencing infant growth require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of breast-milk lipidome on the early growth patterns of preterm infants.
  • To identify specific breast-milk lipid biomarkers associated with faster or slower infant growth.
  • To validate these biomarkers in the context of preterm infant feeding.

Main Methods:

  • A prospective observational birth cohort study of 138 preterm infants was conducted.
  • Infants were categorized into "slower" and "faster" growth groups based on weight Z-score changes.
  • Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry lipidomics and multivariate statistical analyses were employed to profile breast milk.

Main Results:

  • Distinct breast-milk lipidomic signatures were identified between faster and slower growing infants.
  • Faster growth was associated with higher levels of medium-chain saturated fatty acids, sphingomyelin, and DGLA-containing phosphoethanolamine.
  • Slower growth was linked to lower levels of oleic acid-containing triglycerides and DGLA-oxylipins.

Conclusions:

  • Specific breast-milk lipids can discriminate between different early growth trajectories in preterm infants.
  • Identified lipid biomarkers show potential for predicting infant growth, even with confounding clinical factors.
  • Further validation in larger cohorts is necessary to confirm these findings.

Keywords:
breast milk lipidomegrowth trajectorypreterm infant

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