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Effect of fish oil on the fatty acid composition of human milk and maternal and infant erythrocytes
Author(s) -
Henderson Robin A.,
Jensen Robert G.,
LammiKeefe Carol J.,
Ferris Ann M.,
Dardick Kenneth R.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
lipids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.601
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1558-9307
pISSN - 0024-4201
DOI - 10.1007/bf02535865
Subject(s) - docosapentaenoic acid , docosahexaenoic acid , fish oil , eicosapentaenoic acid , fatty acid , polyunsaturated fatty acid , food science , composition (language) , clinical chemistry , zoology , chemistry , ingestion , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , biochemistry , linguistics , philosophy , fishery
To examine the effect of fish oil supplementation on the fatty acid (FA) composition of human milk and maternal and infant erythrocytes, five lactating women were supplemented with 6 g of fish oil daily for 21d. Usual maternal diets contained 1,147 mg of total n−3 FA, with 120 mg from very long‐chain (>C 18 ) n−3 FA. Supplementation increased dietary levels to 3,092 mg of total n−3 FA and 2,006 mg of very long‐chain n−3 FA. Milk samples were collected daily, prior to fish oil ingestion, and at 4‐h intervals on days 1, 7, 14 and 21. Milk n−3 FA content increased within 8 h and reached steady state levels within one week. The n−6 fatty acid content decreased. Erythrocyte eicosapentaenoic acid content increased from 0.24% to 1.4% ( P <0.01) in mothers and from 0.11% to 0.70% ( P <0.05) in infants. Docosapentaenoic acid increased from 1.4% to 2.2% ( P <0.05) in mothers and from 0.30% to 0.78% ( P <0.01) in infants. There was no significant change in docosahexaenoic acid or n−6 fatty acid content. Maternal platelet aggregation responses were variable. No differences in milk or plasma tocopherol levels were noted.