Search

Human milk contains numerous bioactive compounds including oligosaccharides (HMOs). HMOs are particularly interesting compounds in human milk due to their structural and concentration diversity, as well as HMOs studies in Latvia are very scarce. This study aimed to analyze the oligosaccharides in human milk and their influencing factors from mothers living in Latvia. Fourty exclusively breastfeeding women (23 mothers of boys and 17 mothers of girls, aged 21 to 40 years) participated in the study. The participants filled out a questionnaire with questions about breastfeeding and completed a three-day food diary. Data about birth weight and length of the child, the place of residence, smoking habits and parity were collected. Prior to the study, approval from Riga Stradins University Ethic Committee was received (NR. 22-2/521/2021). The concentration of oligosaccharides was analysed on a Shimadzu Highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system equipped with refractive index detector (RID). The concentration of carbohydrates in human milk was variable (lactose concentration was 7.50 ± 0.33 g L-1, glucose 0.04 ± 0.05 g L-1, galactose 0.02 ± 0.02 g L-1, lactulose 0.04 ± 0.02 g L-1 and 4-galacto-lactulose 0.74 ± 0.51 g L-1), the birth weight, length, residence of mother did not affect the concentration of oligosaccharides in human milk. The factor smoking before pregnancy showed a close correlation with 4-galacto-lactulose concentration. However, the research is still ongoing and to draw conclusions it is necessary to analyze a larger number of samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]