Human milk nutritional composition across lactational stages in Central Africa
Moya-Alvarez, Violeta; Eussen, Simone R B M; Mank, Marko; Koyembi, Jean-Christophe Junior; Nyasenu, Yawo Tufa; Ngaya, Gilles; Mad-Bondo, Daniel; Kongoma, Jean-Bertrand; Stahl, Bernd; Sansonetti, Philippe J; Bourdet-Sicard, Raphaëlle
(2022) Frontiers in Nutrition, volume 9
(Article)
Abstract
The African region encompasses the highest undernutrition burden with the highest neonatal and infant mortality rates globally. Under these circumstances, breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and development. However, evidence on human milk (HM) composition from African women is scarce. This is of special
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concern, as we have no reference data from HM composition in the context of food insecurity in Africa. Furthermore, data on the evolution of HM across lactational stages in this setting lack as well. In the MITICA study, we conducted a cohort study among 48 Central-African women and their 50 infants to analyze the emergence of gut dysbiosis in infants and describe the mother-infant transmission of microbiota between birth and 6 months of age. In this context, we assessed nutritional components in HM of 48 lactating women in Central Africa through five sampling times from week 1 after birth until week 25. Unexpectedly, HM-type III (Secretor + and Lewis genes -) was predominant in HM from Central African women, and some nutrients differed significantly among HM-types. While lactose concentration increased across lactation periods, fatty acid concentration did not vary significantly. The overall median level of 16 detected individual human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs; core structures as well as fucosylated and sialylated ones) decreased from 7.3 g/l at week 1 to 3.5 g/l at week 25. The median levels of total amino acids in HM dropped from 12.8 mg/ml at week 1 to 7.4 mg/ml at week 25. In contrast, specific free amino acids increased between months 1 and 3 of lactation, e.g., free glutamic acid, glutamine, aspartic acid, and serine. In conclusion, HM-type distribution and certain nutrients differed from Western mother HM.
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Keywords: Africa, amino acids, fatty acids, human milk, human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), Food Science, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Nutrition and Dietetics
ISSN: 2296-861X
Publisher: Frontiers Media S.A.
Note: Funding Information: This project was funded by the PTR (Programmes Transversaux de Recherche) grant 91-17 from the Institut Pasteur Paris and the LabEx IBEID (ANR-16-COV-005). Also, VM-A was supported by this postdoctoral fellowship from the LabEx IBEID. Funding Information: We thank all participating women and infants, the MITICA Consortium, the Henri Izamo Maternity staff in Bangui, and the Institut Pasteur de Bangui staff for their continuous support in the MITICA study. We warmly thank Martin Balvers, Mark Becker, and Geritt Witte for the FA, FAA, TAA, and retinol analytical assessment of HM. We highly appreciate the excellent quantitative HMO-analyses as conducted by Bernadet Blijenberg and John Gonsalves. We thank Pascale Vonaesch for her contribution to the conception of the MITICA study and Maria Carmen Collado for her essential help with the breastmilk sampling techniques. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Moya-Alvarez, Eussen, Mank, Koyembi, Nyasenu, Ngaya, Mad-Bondo, Kongoma, Stahl, Sansonetti and Bourdet-Sicard.
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