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Human Nutrition and Metabolism

Boron Concentrations in Milk from Mothers of Exclusively Breast-Fed Healthy Full-Term Infants Are Stable during the First Four Months of Lactation^1,2

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, Grand Forks, ND and ^* U.S. Department of Agriculture/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

³To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: chunt{at}gfhnrc.ars.usda.gov.

Because boron is a bioactive element that satisfies several of the criteria for essentiality in humans, the aim of the present work was to determine the profile of boron metabolism in human milk during the first 4 mo of lactation. The concentration of boron and other minerals was determined in archived milk collected (1980–84) 1 time/mo for 4 mo from lactating mothers of full-term, exclusively breast-fed infants living in Houston, TX. A linear model (treating month as a continuous variable) indicated that B concentrations were stable (P = 0.14) between mo 1 [3.88 ± 0.6 µmol (42 ± 6.5 µg)/L milk] and 4 [3.24 ± 0.6 µmol (35 ± 6.5 µg)/L milk, mean ± SEM]. Mg concentrations increased slightly over time (1.18 ± 0.09 to 1.36 ± 0.09 mmol/L, P < 0.0001), whereas Ca concentrations decreased slightly (7.01 ± 0.29 to 6.68 ± 0.29 mmol/L milk, P < 0.02) and Zn decreased substantially (0.04 ± 0.004 to 0.02 ± 0.004 mmol/L milk, P < 0.0001). Similarities in findings reported here and earlier (from samples collected in St. John’s, Newfoundland) provide further evidence that boron may be metabolically regulated. Future investigations of boron regulatory mechanisms should focus on metabolism of bone as the major storage site of B and kidney excretion, the major excretory route for B.

KEY WORDS: • boron • human milk • lactation • calcium • magnesium • zinc