Neonatal jaundice and fatty acid composition of the maternal diet

The role of serum fatty acid composition in neonatal jaundice was studied by comparing the incidence of jaundice among 332 newborn infants receiving breast milk from mothers on a diet with either a low (0.1, n = 145) or a high (1.5, n = 187) polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acid (P/S) ratio. The diet was started immediately after delivery. The composition of fatty acids in the breast milk and sera of the mothers and in the sera of the newborns was evaluated from a random sample of 15 mother-newborn pairs on the control diet (low P/S ratio) and 19 pairs on the experimental diet. Five days after delivery the relative amounts of fatty acids, especially that of linoleate, in the sera of the mothers differed significantly depending on the diet. Differences were also observed in breast milk samples taken three, four or five days after delivery and in the sera of the newborns sampled at the age of four or five days. Nine of the 145 newborn infants (6.2%) in the control group had to be treated with light therapy compared with 12 out of 187 (6.4%) of the newborn infants in the experimental group (high P/S ratio). Serum bilirubin concentrations were 142.5 mumol/l (SD 65.8) and 140.7 mumol/l (SD 73.5) in the experimental and control groups, respectively, at the age of five days. It appears that the changes in the composition of serum fatty acids reached in this study had no effect on the neonatal jaundice.