Dietary habits of Slovenian inland and coastal primiparous on fatty acid composition of milk samples / 31.07.2020

Fatty acid (FA) composition of mature human milk samples from an inland and a coastal area in Slovenia were investigated.

The present study aimed to obtain FA patterns in mature milk arising from different dietary habits in two geographically different areas in Slovenia: Koper (KP), a coastal area, and Pomurje (MS), an inland area. Maternal diet influences the quality of human milk. The quantity and composition of fatty acids (FAs) in milk can influence a child’s growth and development. Therefore, associations between maternal diet and FA composition in 74 mature human milk samples were investigated.

The results revealed statistically significant differences in the dietary intake of game, freshwater fish, and fresh and frozen seafood between the study areas. Among the mean percentages of 35 individual FAs, 19 were higher in KP and 16 were higher in MS. In KP, despite the higher intake of fresh seafood, the levels of saturated and monounsaturated FAs were higher and the levels of PUFAs, ω-3, and ω-6 were lower compared to those in MS. The ω-6:ω-3 ratio did not differ significantly between the study areas. This finding was not expected and indicates a discrepancy between the measured and self-reported data. The latter is consequence of insufficient data information on dietary supplements, which can be an important source of essentially FAs.

Study is presented in article: “Dietary habits of Slovenian inland and coastal primiparous on fatty acid composition of their milk samples” prepared by M. Jagodic, J. Snoj Tratnik, D. Potočnik, D. Mazej, N. Ogrinc and M. Horvat in Food and Chemical Toxicology, as a part of Special Issue of ISO-FOOD project, available online: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691520301873?via%3Dihub