title: Quantitation of taurine and selenium levels in human milk and estimated intake of taurine by breast-fed infants during the early periods of lactation.
abstract: With these results we report the following: Taurine levels in human milk decreased slightly during the early lactation period. The concentration of taurine (406 +/- 174 nmol/ml) in colostrum was significantly higher than that (335 +/- 115 nmol/ml) in mature milk. Selenium content of human milk also decreased slightly during the early lactation period. The content of selenium (28.6 +/- 19.6 ng/ml) in colostrum was significantly higher than that (1 5.1 +/- 5.9 ng/ml) in mature milk. A correlation was not found between the taurine and selenium content of human milk. The intake of taurine and selenium by breast-fed infants progressively increased with days postpartum. These results were due to the significant increase in milk intake by infants. It is suggested that the taurine and selenium levels in colostrum are more concentrated than those in mature milk. However, the absolute intake of taurine and selenium by infants are higher in mature milk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, Danook University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tamari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001942:Breast Feeding; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007774:Lactation; D008892:Milk / Q000378:metabolism*; D012643:Selenium / Q000378:metabolism*; D013654:Taurine / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D013654:Taurine; D012643:Selenium