Dynamic Changes in the Human Milk Metabolome Over 25 Weeks of Lactation

Katrine Overgaard Poulsen; Fanyu Meng; Elisa Lanfranchi; Jette F Young; Catherine  Stanton; C. Anthony Ryan; Alan L. Kelly; Ulrik Kræmer Sundekilde

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.917659

Dynamic Changes in the Human Milk Metabolome Over 25 Weeks of Lactation

Katrine Overgaard Poulsen^*
, Fanyu Meng
, Elisa Lanfranchi
, Jette F Young
, Catherine Stanton
, C. Anthony Ryan
, Alan L. Kelly
, Ulrik Kræmer Sundekilde^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Food Science - Differentiated & Biofunctional Foods

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Human milk (HM) provides essential nutrition for ensuring optimal infant growth and development postpartum. Metabolomics offers insight into the dynamic composition of HM. Studies have reported the impact of lactation stage, maternal genotype, and gestational age on HM metabolome. However, the majority of the studies have considered changes within the first month of lactation or sampled with large intervals. This leaves a gap in the knowledge of progressing variation in HM composition beyond the first month of lactation. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the HM metabolome from mothers with term deliveries varies beyond 1 month of lactation, during the period in which HM is considered fully mature. Human milk samples (n = 101) from 59 mothers were collected at weeks 1–2, 3–5, 7–9, and 20–25 postpartum and analyzed using ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Several metabolites varied over lactation and exhibited dynamic changes between multiple time points. Higher levels of HM oligosaccharides, cis-aconitate, O-phosphocholine, O-acetylcarnitine, gluconate, and citric acid were observed in early lactation, whereas later in lactation, levels of lactose, 3-fucosyllactose, glutamine, glutamate, and short- and medium-chain fatty acids were increased. Notably, we demonstrate that the HM metabolome is dynamic during the period of maturity.

Original language	English
Article number	917659
Journal	Frontiers in Nutrition
Volume	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.917659
Publication status	Published - 14 Jul 2022

Keywords

NMR spectroscopy
human milk
lactation
metabolomics
term delivery

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title = "Dynamic Changes in the Human Milk Metabolome Over 25 Weeks of Lactation",

abstract = "Human milk (HM) provides essential nutrition for ensuring optimal infant growth and development postpartum. Metabolomics offers insight into the dynamic composition of HM. Studies have reported the impact of lactation stage, maternal genotype, and gestational age on HM metabolome. However, the majority of the studies have considered changes within the first month of lactation or sampled with large intervals. This leaves a gap in the knowledge of progressing variation in HM composition beyond the first month of lactation. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the HM metabolome from mothers with term deliveries varies beyond 1 month of lactation, during the period in which HM is considered fully mature. Human milk samples (n = 101) from 59 mothers were collected at weeks 1–2, 3–5, 7–9, and 20–25 postpartum and analyzed using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Several metabolites varied over lactation and exhibited dynamic changes between multiple time points. Higher levels of HM oligosaccharides, cis-aconitate, O-phosphocholine, O-acetylcarnitine, gluconate, and citric acid were observed in early lactation, whereas later in lactation, levels of lactose, 3-fucosyllactose, glutamine, glutamate, and short- and medium-chain fatty acids were increased. Notably, we demonstrate that the HM metabolome is dynamic during the period of maturity.",

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author = "Poulsen, \{Katrine Overgaard\} and Fanyu Meng and Elisa Lanfranchi and Young, \{Jette F\} and Catherine Stanton and Ryan, \{C. Anthony\} and \{L. Kelly\}, Alan and Sundekilde, \{Ulrik Kr{\ae}mer\}",

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AU - Poulsen, Katrine Overgaard

AU - Meng, Fanyu

AU - Lanfranchi, Elisa

AU - Young, Jette F

AU - Stanton, Catherine

AU - Ryan, C. Anthony

AU - L. Kelly, Alan

AU - Sundekilde, Ulrik Kræmer

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N2 - Human milk (HM) provides essential nutrition for ensuring optimal infant growth and development postpartum. Metabolomics offers insight into the dynamic composition of HM. Studies have reported the impact of lactation stage, maternal genotype, and gestational age on HM metabolome. However, the majority of the studies have considered changes within the first month of lactation or sampled with large intervals. This leaves a gap in the knowledge of progressing variation in HM composition beyond the first month of lactation. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the HM metabolome from mothers with term deliveries varies beyond 1 month of lactation, during the period in which HM is considered fully mature. Human milk samples (n = 101) from 59 mothers were collected at weeks 1–2, 3–5, 7–9, and 20–25 postpartum and analyzed using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Several metabolites varied over lactation and exhibited dynamic changes between multiple time points. Higher levels of HM oligosaccharides, cis-aconitate, O-phosphocholine, O-acetylcarnitine, gluconate, and citric acid were observed in early lactation, whereas later in lactation, levels of lactose, 3-fucosyllactose, glutamine, glutamate, and short- and medium-chain fatty acids were increased. Notably, we demonstrate that the HM metabolome is dynamic during the period of maturity.

AB - Human milk (HM) provides essential nutrition for ensuring optimal infant growth and development postpartum. Metabolomics offers insight into the dynamic composition of HM. Studies have reported the impact of lactation stage, maternal genotype, and gestational age on HM metabolome. However, the majority of the studies have considered changes within the first month of lactation or sampled with large intervals. This leaves a gap in the knowledge of progressing variation in HM composition beyond the first month of lactation. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the HM metabolome from mothers with term deliveries varies beyond 1 month of lactation, during the period in which HM is considered fully mature. Human milk samples (n = 101) from 59 mothers were collected at weeks 1–2, 3–5, 7–9, and 20–25 postpartum and analyzed using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Several metabolites varied over lactation and exhibited dynamic changes between multiple time points. Higher levels of HM oligosaccharides, cis-aconitate, O-phosphocholine, O-acetylcarnitine, gluconate, and citric acid were observed in early lactation, whereas later in lactation, levels of lactose, 3-fucosyllactose, glutamine, glutamate, and short- and medium-chain fatty acids were increased. Notably, we demonstrate that the HM metabolome is dynamic during the period of maturity.

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KW - metabolomics

KW - term delivery

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Dynamic Changes in the Human Milk Metabolome Over 25 Weeks of Lactation

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