Carotenoids and Vitamin A in Breastmilk of Hong Kong Lactating Mothers and Their Relationships with Maternal Diet

Nutrients

Wing-Wa Ho¹  Man-Sau Wong¹  Yuk-Fan Ng¹  Kenneth Ka-Hei Lo¹  Liz Sin Li¹  Vincy Wing-Si Wong¹  Danyue Zhao¹  Hang-Wai Lee¹  Yat-Tin Chan¹  Shi-Ying Li¹  Zhou Lu¹ 

[1] Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China;

关键词: carotenoids;    vitamin A;    breastmilk;    maternal diets;    dietary intakes;    lactation;   

DOI  :  10.3390/nu14102031

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Carotenoids and vitamin A are nutrients crucial to infants’ development. To date, there is limited data on their availability in breastmilk and the associated dietary factors, especially in Hong Kong, where people follow a westernized Chinese diet. This study determined the selected breastmilk’s carotenoid and vitamin A (retinol) contents by ultraperformance liquid chromatography with photodiode detection (UPLC-PDA) and the dietary intakes by three-day food records in 87 Hong Kong lactating mothers, who were grouped into tertiles based on their daily carotenoid intake. Low vitamin A intake (530.2 ± 34.2 µg RAE/day) and breastmilk retinol level (1013.4 ± 36.8 nmol/L) were reported in our participants, suggesting a poor vitamin A status of the lactating participants having relatively higher socioeconomic status in Hong Kong. Mothers in the highest tertile (T3) had higher breastmilk carotenoid levels than those in the lowest (T1) (p < 0.05). There were significant associations between maternal carotenoid intakes and breastmilk lutein levels in the linear regression models (p < 0.05) regardless of dietary supplement intake. Furthermore, maternal dark green vegetable intakes were associated with breastmilk retinol, lutein, and β-carotene levels. These findings can serve as dietary references for lactating mothers to enhance breastmilk carotenoid and vitamin A contents for the benefits of child growth and development.

【 授权许可】

Unknown