The Metabolomic Analysis of Human Milk Offers Unique Insights into Potential Child Health Benefits

Abstract

Purpose of Review Human milk is the gold standard of infant nutrition. The milk changes throughout lactation and is tailored for the infant providing the nutrients, minerals and vitamins necessary for supporting healthy infant growth. Human milk also contains low molecular weight compounds (metabolites) possibly eliciting important bioactivity. Metabolomics is the study of these metabolites. The purpose of this review was to examine recent metabolomics studies and cohort studies on human milk to assess the impact of human milk metabolomic analyses combined with investigations of infant growth and development.Recent Findings The metabolite profile of human milk varies among other factors according to lactation stage, gestation at birth, and maternal genes, diet and disease state. Few studies investigate how these variations impact infant growth and development. Summary Several time-related factors affecting human milk metabolome are potentially ubiquitous among mothers, although maternal-related factors are heavily confounded, which complicates studies of metabolite abundancies and variabilities and further possibilities of observing cause and effect in infants.

NMR Metabonomic Profile of Preterm Human Milk in the First Month of Lactation: From Extreme to Moderate Prematurity

“…In addition to milk macronutrients, in recent years special attention has been paid to another component of HM, called the metabolome, which includes a wide class of low molecular weight (<1.5 kDa) molecules such as carbohydrates, nonprotein nitrogen molecules, polyamines, HMOs, choline derivatives, organic acids, and some vitamins [22,23]. In particular, the evidence for inter-and intra-variability of the HM metabolome composition associated with both genetic and nongenetic-factors has suggested an important role of this molecular component in the programming of neonates, with potentially relevant contributions to the growth and neurodevelopmental of infants.…”

“…Metabolomics studies on HM have pointed out compositional variations in the metabolome related to such maternal characteristics as genetics, diet, and lifestyle, as well as gestation age (terms vs. preterm delivery), type of delivery, lactation time, and geographical location [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. For more detailed information on this topic, the reader is directed to two recent reviews [22,23]. Nevertheless, despite the rapid progress in knowledge of HM metabolome composition, its characterization remains incomplete, and its role in the infant nutrition is not totally understood.…”

Human milk metabolome: Impact of gestational age, lactational stage and maternal diet

“…A study by Peila et al [30] recruited 36 breastfeeding mothers who gave birth prematurely between 23 and 33 weeks of gestation. In addition, three groups of mothers were distinguished according to different gestational age (GA): extreme (<28 GA week), very (29-31 GA week) or moderate (32)(33)(34). The milk samples were colostrum, transitional milk, and mature milk, metabolome of which was examined using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.…”

“…Therefore, international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of an infant's life, and then continuing breastfeeding as complementary foods are introduced, and breastfeeding continues for 2 years or more, as the mutual wishes of mother and infant [1,13,43]. The first 1000 days of life (from conception to 2 years of age) are extremely important for the proper development and prevention of diseases in the context of metabolic programming [32]. Metabolomics may be a tool that can help to understand the early health programming of infants from birth [37].…”

Dynamic Changes in the Human Milk Metabolome Over 25 Weeks of Lactation

“…Human milk metabolomics is still a developing scientific field with continual changes and improvements in analytical technology. One of the most used techniques is NMR spectroscopy as this method is robust, quantifies the metabolites in high concentration, and yields a good coverage of milk metabolites across different metabolite classes ( 13 ). Recently, metabolomic studies have contributed to insight into low-molecular weight compounds of HM and their variation ( 8 , 14 ).…”