Background: There is a paucity of studies on the impact of maternal body mass index (BMI) on macronutrient content of human milk colostrum (HMC).
Objectives: To compare macronutrient content of HMC in healthy women of term infants in relation to their BMI. We hypothesized that mother habitus influences human milk colostrum content.
Methods: Colostrum was collected from 109 healthy mothers of hospitalized healthy term infants divided to four pre-pregnancy BMI groups, 12 underweight, 59 normal weight, 20 overweight and 18 obese women between 24 to 72 hours after birth. Macronutrient content were measured using mid-infrared spectroscopy.
Results: There were no significant differences in macronutrients between the BMI groups. We performed 4 separate stepwise backward multiple regression analyses taking into account fat, carbohydrate, protein or energy content as dependent variables, and maternal BMI, parity, gestational age, infant gender, maternal age, maternal education, mode of delivery and time post-delivery. In these analyses, fat, carbohydrate or energy content were not related to maternal BMI, while protein content was significantly and positively correlated with BMI (P=0.008) and negatively correlated with gestational age (P=0.004) and time post-delivery (P<0.001). Colostrum carbohydrate content was positively correlated with parity. Colostrum fat and energy content were negatively correlated with maternal age and positively correlated with parity.
Conclusion: Most macronutrient and energy content of colostrum are unaffected by pre-pregnancy maternal BMI, to the exception of protein content that is positively related to maternal BMI.
