A recent study using one of the largest US-based cohorts of infants of diabetic pregnancies explored how gestational diabetes (GD) affects the composition of human milk and its potential influence on infant growth and body composition. Researchers analyzed milk samples from nearly 350 mother-infant pairs one month postpartum. Using advanced metabolomic profiling techniques, they identified significant differences in the concentrations of nine milk metabolites between mothers with and without GD and associations with measures of infant growth, including body fat percentage, length-for-age scores, and rapid weight gain.
Their findings suggest that GD may alter human milk composition in ways that moderate infant growth and body composition. For example, phenylacetic acid was associated with improved length-for-age scores, while stearoylcarnitine was linked to an increased likelihood of rapid weight gain. These results provide new insights into the potential role of human milk metabolites as mediators of infant development, highlighting the importance of understanding maternal metabolic conditions in shaping early-life growth trajectories, the complexity of the mother-infant dyad, and the adaptive potential of human milk in response to maternal health conditions.
Read the article here! Congratulations to Dr. Emily Nagel, author and US DOHaD Society member, and her team on their recent publication!
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