Gestational weight gain and breastmilk

How does weight gain during pregnancy impact the composition of breastmilk – and fatty acids in particular?

Given the protective effect that certain breastmilk fatty acids can have against necrotizing enterocolitis, and their support for immune cell function and microbiota populations, researchers launched a study with a cohort of 48 Irish mothers to learn more.  

Their findings were the first to determine how a specific type of fatty acid called branched-chain fatty acids decreased when mothers gained more weight than recommended during pregnancy. An important first step, says the team, to understanding how fatty acid composition may have longer term impacts on infant health. 

See the details just published here in PLEFA (Long chain monomethyl branched-chain fatty acid levels in human milk vary with gestational weight gain).

FLRF is a proud supporter of this work via one of the first ever MOMI Seeds Pilot Grants in 2018 to Professor Martina Wallace, PhD, through the Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Mother-Milk-Infant Center of Research Excellence (LRF MOMI CORE) at the University of California San Diego.

Interested in a MOMI Seeds Pilot Grant? Discover more about the annual grant program here.