Jaundice and breast-feeding among Alaskan Eskimo newborns

The course, incidence, and severity of neonatal jaundice was studied in 95 Alaskan Eskimo infants. Breast-fed infants had higher bilirubin concentrations than bottle-fed babies. Both groups experienced high bilirubin levels, similar to those previously reported in Navajo and Oriental infants but greater than those observed in whites and blacks. A marked capacity to inhibit hepatic glucuronyl transferase was observed in breast-milk specimens but only partly accounted for the bilirubin differences between breast-fed and bottle-fed Eskimo infants. These data suggest that in some racial groups predisposed to neonatal jaundice, feeding practices significantly alter the course and severity of hyperbilirubinemia.