Background/objectives: Obese infants are more susceptible to develop adulthood obesity and its related comorbidities. Previous studies have shown the presence of hormones and growth factors in maternal breast milk that may influence infant adiposity. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in concentrations of three hormones and two growth factors in the breast milk of mothers with obese and non-obese infants.
Subjects/methods: In this cross-sectional study, 40 mothers with overweight or obese infants (weight for length percentile >97) and 40 age-matched mothers with normal-weight infant (-10 < weight for length percentile < 85) who were between 2 and 5 months of age were enrolled. Anthropometric indices of infants and mothers were measured by routine methods. Breast milk concentrations of ghrelin and adiponectin, leptin, epithelial growth factor (EGF) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay methods.
Results: The mean breast milk concentration of ghrelin was higher in mothers with normal-weight infants, 137.50 pg/ml, than in mothers with obese infants, 132.00 pg/ml (P=0.001). This was also true regarding the concentration of EGF in mothers with (0/04 ng/ml) and without (0/038 ng/ml) normal-weight infants (P=0.01). No significant differences were observed in concentrations of leptin, adiponectin and IGF-1 between two groups (P > 0.05). There was also a significant positive correlation between EGF and ghrelin in both groups.
Conclusions: This study revealed that there was a correlation between ghrelin and EGF level in breast milk of mothers with obese and non-obese infants, suggesting a possible regulatory effect of these two hormones on weight in infants.