Systematic review of fatty acid composition of human milk from mothers of preterm compared to full-term infants

Bokor, Szilvia; Koletzko, Berthold and Decsi, Tamás (2007): Systematic review of fatty acid composition of human milk from mothers of preterm compared to full-term infants. In: Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, Vol. 51, No. 6: pp. 550-556

Abstract

Background: Fatty acid composition of human milk serves as guidance for the composition of infant formulae. The aim of the study was to systematically review data on the fatty acid composition of human milk of mothers of preterm compared to full-term infants. Methods: An electronic literature search was performed in English (Medline and Medscape) and German (SpringerLink) databases and via the Google utility. Fatty acid compositional data for preterm and fullterm human milk were converted to differences between means and 95% confidence intervals. Results: We identified five relevant studies publishing direct comparison of fatty acid composition of preterm versus full-term human milk. There were no significant differences between the values of the principal saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. In three independent studies covering three different time points of lactation, however, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) values were significantly higher in milk of mothers of preterm as compared to those of full-term infants, with an extent of difference considered nutritionally relevant. Conclusion: Higher DHA values in preterm than in full-term human milk underlines the importance of using own mother's milk for feeding preterm babies and raises the question whether DHA contents in preterm formulae should be higher than in formulae for full-term infants. Copyright (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Form of publication: Publisher's Version
• Faculties: Medicine > Medical Center of the University of Munich > Pediatric Clinic and Outpatient Clinic in the Dr. von Hauner Children‘s Hospital
• Subjects: 600 Technology > 610 Medicine and health
• ISSN: 0250-6807
• Alliance/National Licence: This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.
• Language: English