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Milk Composition in Women from Five Different Regions of China: The Great Diversity of Milk Fatty Acids^1,2,3,

Ruan Chulei, Liu Xiaofang, Man Hongsheng, Ma Xiulan^*, Lin Guizheng^*, Duan Gianhong, Carol A. DeFrancesco and William E. Connor^,4

Central Laboratory ^* Department of Hygiene, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China Department of Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR

Human milk samples were obtained from 146 lactating women living in five distinct geographic regions of the People's Republic of China. The regions were characterized as follows: pastoral, rural, urban 1, urban 2, and marine. Dietary information obtained on a subsample of women providing milk suggested distinct differences in the food availability in the five regions and the habitual diets of the lactating women studied. The milk concentration of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) varied greatly (g/100 g total fatty acids): 0.44 ± 0.29 (pastoral), 0.68 ± 0.29 (rural), 0.88 ± 0.34 (urban 1), 0.82 ± 0.35 (urban 2), and 2.78 ± 1.20 (marine region). Docosahexaenoic acid is critical for brain and retina development in the infant. Milk arachidonic acid (AA) ranged from 0.80 ± 0.14 (rural) to 1.17 ± 0.33 and 1.22 ± 0.32 g/100 g fatty acids from the marine and pastoral regions. Arachidonic acid is associated with infant growth. The AA to DHA ratio (g/g) was highly variable also: 2.77 (pastoral), 1.18 (rural), 1.01 (urban 1), 1.23 (urban 2), and 0.42 (marine). The DHA concentration found in the milk of women from the marine region was twice as high as any reported previously, but was in a range similar to the amounts found in the milk of women fed fish oil. Seafood consumption by the women residing in the marine region is a likely contributor to the DHA concentration in their milk. These data illustrate the heterogeneity of the fatty acid composition of human milk and suggest a great influence of geography and the maternal diet on concentrations of DHA and AA in human milk.

KEY WORDS: • milk • humans • docosahexaenoic acid • arachidonic acid • (n-3) fatty acids

¹ Supported by research grants DK29930, DK40566 (Clinical Nutrition Research Unit), and RR00334 (Clinical Research Center), all from the National Institutes of Health and Oregon Health Sciences University Foundation.

² Presented in preliminary form at Experimental Biology 94, Anaheim, CA [DeFrancesco, C.A., Connor, W.E., Chulei, R., Hongsheng, M., Xiaofang, L., Xiulan, M., Guizheng, L. & Gianhong, D. (1994) Human milk composition in China: the impact of diversity in the maternal diet upon milk fatty acids. FASEB J. 8:A175 (abs)].

³ The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

⁴ To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Manuscript received 31 December 1994. Revision accepted 24 August 1995.