Skip to main content
NUTRITION 2023 Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Back

Topical Area: Maternal, Perinatal and Pediatric Nutrition

Maternal, Perinatal and Pediatric Nutrition (I) (Poster Session)

(P07-045-23) Is Maternal Mental Well-Being in Pregnancy Associated With Breastmilk Composition?

Saturday, July 22, 2023
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Location: Poster Board 169
Disclosure(s):
Wei Wei Pang, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Guoqi Yu, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Peipei Liu, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Claire Guivarch, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: We examined the composition of breastmilk in relation to antenatal depressive symptoms and whether the associations are modified by maternal diet, lifestyle and ethnicity.

Methods: Women from the Growing Up in Singapore Toward healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) study with breastmilk samples at 3 weeks postpartum were included in this study (n=205). Women completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 26–28 weeks’ gestation; higher scores are indicative of more symptoms of depression. Multiple linear regression models were used to estimate the association of maternal depressive symptoms with breastmilk concentrations of macronutrients (i.e., protein, lactose, total fat), citrate, trace elements (Na, K, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, P, Zn), glucocorticoids (cortisol, cortisone) and 19 human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs).

Results: Depressive symptoms were significantly related to lacto-N-tetraose (LNT) after adjustment for confounders including ethnicity, education, pre-pregnancy BMI, PA and diet quality (measured by the Healthy Eating Index) during pregnancy (β= 0.06 SD [95%CI: 0.02, 0.09] per EPDS score). Further, some associations were modified by PA and ethnicity. Depressive symptoms were positively associated with Cu concentrations only among women in the lowest PA group (metabolic equivalent of task [MET] < 600 unit) (17.42 ng/L [0.23, 34.6] per EPDS score). Depressive symptoms were inversely related to the sum of HMOs (-0.21 SD [-0.36, -0.06]), total fucosylated HMOs (-0.19 SD [-0.37, -0.01]), 2′-fucosyllactose (2’FL) (-0.23 SD [-0.39, -0.07]) and LS-tetrasaccharide c (LSTc)(-0.15 SD [-0.27, -0.03]) among Indian women, but were positively associated with LNT among Malay women (0.15 SD [0.07,0.24]). Depressive symptoms were positively related to lacto-N-neo-tetraose (LNnT) (0.06 SD [0.01, 0.11]) and LNT (0.11 SD [0.06, 0.16]) among women with moderate PA (MET of 600-3000 unit). These associations did not differ materially by diet quality.

Conclusions: Antenatal depressive symptoms are related to breastmilk composition, predominantly HMO concentrations which are ethnicity-dependent and may be modified by the level of PA during pregnancy.

Funding Sources: This research was supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation, Agency for Science Technology and Research, and Allen Foundation.