title: Fatty acid composition of human milk in Italy.
abstract: The fatty acid composition of breast milk from 20 Italian women, delivering at term and on ad libitum diets, was analyzed with high-resolution gas chromatography. Milk samples were collected twice a day, on the 1st, 4th, 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th day after colostrum appearance. No significant differences were detected between the two daily samples. During the maturation process a significant reduction in long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids of the n-6 series (p = 0.002) and n-3 series (p = 0.005) was recorded, particularly in arachidonic acid (p = 0.035), docosatetraenoic acid (p = 0.035) and docosahexaenoic acid (p = 0.032). The linoleic acid/n-6 and alpha-linolenic acid/n-3 ratios increased (p = 0.024 and p = 0.037), while the docosatetraenoic/docosahexaenoic acid ratio decreased (p = 0.032). The fatty acid composition of mature milk was the following: saturated 45.50%; unsaturated 54.51%; monounsaturated 42.69%; polyunsaturated 11.82%; long-chain polyunsaturated 1.27%; linoleic acid 9.79%, and alpha-linolenic acid 0.36%. The fatty acid composition of milk collected from Italian women appears similar to that of women in other southern European countries and, therefore, could reflect dietary habits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Health and Neonatal Medicine, G. Gaslini Institute, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Serra
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marletta
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bonacci
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Campone
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bertini
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Lantieri
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Risso
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ciangherotti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D003126:Colostrum / Q000737:chemistry*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis* / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry*; D049590:Postpartum Period; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids