Effect of docosahexaenoic acid supplementation of lactating women on the fatty acid composition of breast milk lipids and maternal and infant plasma phospholipids

Abstract

To determine whether docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation of breast-feeding mothers increases the DHA contents of breast milk and infant plasma phospholipids (PPs), breast-feeding women were randomly assigned to 3 DHA-supplementation groups (170-260 mg/d) or a control group. Group 1 (n = 6) consumed an algae-produced high-DHA triacylglycerol; group 2 (n = 6) consumed high-DHA eggs; group 3 (n = 6) consumed a high-DHA, low-eicosapentaenoic acid marine oil; and group 4 (n = 6) received no supplementation. From before to after supplementation (2 and 8 wk postpartum), mean (±SD) maternal PP DHA increased in groups 1, 2, and 3 by 1.20 ± 0.53, 0.63 ± 0.82, and 0.76 ± 0.35 mol% of fatty acids, respectively (23-41%), but decreased in group 4 by 0.44 ± 0.34 mol% (15%). Breast-milk DHA of groups 1, 2, and 3 increased by 0.21 ± 0.16, 0.07 ± 0.11, and 0.12 ± 0.07 mol%, respectively (32-91%) but decreased in group 4 by 0.03 ± 0.04 mol% (17%). Mean infant PP DHA in groups 1, 2, and 3 increased by 1.63 ± 0.79, 0.40 ± 1.0, and 0.98 ± 0.61 mol%, respectively (11-42%), but only by 0.18 ± 0.74 mol% (5%) in group 4. Correlations between the DHA contents of maternal plasma and breast milk and of milk and infant PPs were significant. Breast-milk and maternal and infant PP 22:5n-6 concentrations were lowest in group 2. DHA supplementation increases the plasma and breast-milk DHA concentrations of lactating women, resulting in higher PP DHA concentrations in infants.