Effects of gestational diabetes mellitus, parity and mode of delivery on polar lipids compositions of mature human milk

Polar lipids in human milk such as glycerophospholipids, sphingomyelin and plasmalogen play important role in growth and development of healthy infants. This work aims to investigate the effects of gestational diabetic mellitus (GDM), parity, delivery mode on the polar lipids’ compositions of human milk. A total of 56 mature human milk samples (1–6 months postpartum) were collected from breastfeeding mothers using electric breast pump from Ningbo, Zhejiang Province of China. Our results showed GDM and parity have limited effect on polar lipid content and composition. Delivery mode was found to significantly affect the polar lipids compositions in human milk with significantly higher total polar lipids in human milk of mothers who had cesarean delivery (938 nmol/mL) as compared to that of mothers who had vaginal delivery (740 nmol/mL). Discriminatory analysis shows human milk of mothers who have cesarean delivery demonstrated up-regulation of glycerophospholipids (GPL) and plasmalogen (PLG) esterified with unsaturated fatty acids (USFAs) [such as plasmenyl-ethanolamine 40:5 and 36:4].