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A lack of correlation between linoleate and arachidonate in human breast milk
Author(s) -
Gibson R. A.,
Kneebone G. M.
Publication year - 1984
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/bf02537411
Subject(s) - lipidology , clinical chemistry , arachidonic acid , triglyceride , colostrum , food science , chemistry , linoleic acid , breast milk , composition (language) , lactation , fatty acid , biochemistry , endocrinology , biology , cholesterol , immunology , enzyme , pregnancy , linguistics , philosophy , genetics , antibody
The levels of arachidonic acid and linoleic acid found in the lipid fraction of human milk samples were compared. No correlation was found between the level of precursor linoleate and product arachidonate in 80 samples of colostrum (day 3–5) or 60 samples of mature breast milk. We attempted to test the hypothesis that the absence of a precursor‐product relationship was caused by a constant level of arachidonate being secreted in the phospholipids (PL) of breast milk cells. Examination of the fatty acid (FA) composition of the PL and triglyceride fractions revealed arachidonate in high concentration in PL but that most of the total arachidonate existed in triglycerides.