[Lipoprotein-lipase-activity in human milk (author's transl)]

Lipoprotein-lipase-activity has been determined in human milk between the 3rd and the 10th post-partum days in women from different ethnic origins. This activity is low in the colostrum, it increases at the 4th and 5th days and remains stable between the 6th and the 10th day. There are important variations of the LPL-activity from one woman to another. Two variation-factors have been noticed. The first is an ethnic factor. It is apparent event if the diet is exactly the same in all women. In the milk, indeed, the activity of French women is much lower. It is about three times less than the activity of Yugoslavian of African women. The second is the galactogenic powder that has been estimated by the natural duration of lactation. We can see that the activity of women, who have to stop breast-feeding because of insufficient milk, is lower than the activity of women who can decide how long they will breast-feed their child. We took as a hypothesis that the milk is a means of elimination for the mammary-LPL. This enzyme is supposed to have done first its physiological action at the surface of mammary glandular cells. Ours results show more facts in favor of this hypothesis.