Presence and dynamics of leptin, GLP‐1, and PYY in human breast milk at early postpartum

Abstract

ObjectiveThe presence of appetite hormones, namely glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), peptide YY (PYY) and leptin in breast milk may be important in infant feeding regulation and infant growth. This study evaluated whether concentrations of GLP-1, PYY and leptin change across a single feeding (from fore- to hindmilk), and are associated with maternal and infant anthropometrics.Design and MethodsThirteen postpartum women (mean ± SD: 25.6 ± 4.5 y, 72.0 ± 11.9 kg) provided fore- and hindmilk samples 4-5 weeks after delivery and underwent measurements of body weight and composition by Dual X-ray Absorptiometry. GLP-1, PYY, and leptin concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay, and milk fat content was determined by creamatocrit.ResultsConcentration of GLP-1 and content of milk fat was higher in hindmilk than foremilk (p≤0.05). PYY and leptin concentrations did not change between fore- and hindmilk. Both leptin concentration and milk fat content were correlated with indices of maternal adiposity, including body mass index (r= 0.65-0.85, p<0.02), and fat mass (r= 0.65-0.84, p<0.02). Hindmilk GLP-1 was correlated with infant weight gain from birth to six months (r= −0.67, p=0.034).ConclusionThe presence of appetite hormones in breast milk may be important in infant appetite and growth regulation.

Maternal dietary protein supplement confers long-term sex-specific beneficial consequences of obesity resistance and glucose tolerance to the offspring in Brandt's voles

“…Increasing evidence indicates that maternal obesity or over-nutrition induced increased milk leptin levels and placental leptin expression, developed leptin resistance, and led to obesity phenotype in the adults (Mühlhäusler et al, 2003;Muhlhausler et al, 2007;Schueler et al, 2013). In this study, we found that the offspring from maternal high-protein diet exhibited high serum leptin concentration at weaning, but they did not show increased food intake and fat accumulation in adulthood.…”

Leptin Levels Are Higher in Whole Compared to Skim Human Milk, Supporting a Cellular Contribution

“…ELISA in skim HM detected similar leptin levels (from 0.30 ± 0.04 ng/mL at 1 month to 0.10 ± 0.02 ng/mL at 12 months, n = 72) in a study by Bronsky et al [50], (0.28 ± 0.38 ng/mL, n = 651) in a study by Weyermann et al [27], and (0.16 ± 0.04 ng/mL, n = 28) in a study by Miralles et al [26]. RIA in skim HM also detected close leptin levels: (0.18 ± 0.15 ng/mL, n = 23) in a study by Schuster et al [28] and (1.00 ± 0.80 ng/mL, n = 13) in a study by Schueler et al [51]. RIA results in whole HM (1.34 ± 0.14, n = 24) in a study by Bielicki et al [52] were also comparable to our whole HM leptin levels.…”

Associations between Maternal Body Composition and Appetite Hormones and Macronutrients in Human Milk

“…Leptin is also contributed by lactocytes [19,20]. Previous studies have identified a positive correlation between maternal body mass index (BMI) and both maternal serum [21,22] and skim HM leptin [21,22,23,24], despite differing methodologies in leptin measurement [25]. However, no consistent relationship between maternal adiposity and HM leptin concentrations has been shown across lactation, with Miralles et al (2006) reporting only moderate correlations between maternal BMI and HM leptin during the first 6 months of lactation ( R = 0.387; p < 0.01) [8], while Bronsky et al (2011) saw no consistent relationship over the first 12 months of lactation [11], despite utilizing a similar leptin measurement methodology.…”

“…BMI is a poor measure of adiposity, as it fails to adequately differentiate between adipose tissue and lean body mass [26,27]. Investigations between the relationship of maternal BMI and leptin have been conducted predominantly in skim HM, which excludes the fat and cellular components of HM [21,24]. Further, leptin concentrations have been shown to be higher in whole HM compared to skim HM [20,23,28].…”