HJ Urwin¹, EA Miles², PS Noakes², LS Kremmyda², M Vlachava², ND Diaper², FJ Pérez-Cano³, J You¹, N Al-Said¹, PC Calder², P Yaqoob^1
1University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
²University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
³University of Barcelona, Barcelona, United Kingdom

Background: Changes in breast milk long chain (LC)polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) composition and immune function have been seen in intervention studies with fish oil supplementation during pregnancy and lactation.

Objective: To determine how consuming salmon during pregnancy may affect breast milk fatty acid composition and immune function.

Procedure: Women (n = 120) were recruited from a population who rarely ate oily fish and were at risk of having a child with atopy. They were randomly assigned to either remain on their normal diet or to include two portions of salmon per week from 20 weeks pregnancy until birth. Breast milk samples were collected on days 1, 5, 14 and 28 post-partum and analysed with gas chromatography for fatty acid composition and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay for sCD14, TGF-β1, TGF-β2 and sIgA.

Results: Day 5 breast milk samples from the salmon group had higher total saturated fatty acids (p<0.05), eicosapentaenoic acid (p<0.02), docosapentaenoic acid (p<0.001), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; p<0.001) and lower total monounsaturated fatty acids (p<0.05). By day 28 the difference was only significant for DHA (p<0.01). Total n-6 PUFA did not differ significantly between groups. However the total n-6 PUFA / n-3 PUFA ratio was lower for the salmon group (p<0.01). All immune factors in breast milk decreased with time (p<0.001). Breast milk sIgA (p<0.01) and TGF-β1 (p<0.05) were lower in the salmon group. TGF-β1 correlated with TGF-β2 (r = 0.746, p< 0.001).

Conclusion: Salmon consumption during pregnancy significantly affects n-3 PUFA content of breast milk in early lactation and influences the breast milk content of some immunomodulatory factors.

Keywords: breast milk, PUFA, TGF-β1, TGF-β2
Schlüsselwörter: Brustmilch, PUFA, TGF-β1, TGF-β2