Good news for pre-eclamptic moms
Reported January 28, 2009
PUNE: The breast milk of mothers, who faced complications during pregnancy, have found to have factors that brace the child in combating diseases
in later life, say scientists of Interactive Research School for Health Affairs (IRSHA).
After decoding fatty acid compositions of breast milk from pre-eclamptic (pregnancy induced hypertension) mothers, scientists at IRSHA have discovered that their (pre-eclamptic mother’s) milk have a high level of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid as compared to normal mothers. This DHA helps children fight diseases like hypertension, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and other mental health disorders in later life.
“We have found a high level of DHA in the pre-eclamptic mothers’ breast milk that help the children in fighting hypertension and mental disorders,” said scientist Sadhana Joshi, who carried out the study along with other IRSHA scientists Anitha Killari, Kamini Dangat and Hemalata Yadav.
In developing countries like India, pregnancy complications and adverse fetal growth cases are rising at an alarming rate. Thus, there is a need to understand the role of essential fatty acids in breast milk. “The fatty acid composition of human milk has not been well studied so far. The IRSHA has examined the levels of fatty acids in breast milk from 50 pre-eclamptic mothers, 45 women with pre-term babies and compared with breast milk of 84 normal delivery cases,” said Prabhakar Ranjekar, the IRSHA’s director.
“The results have indicated that DHA concentrations were higher in pre-eclamptic mothers as well as in pre-term babies’ mothers. This was observed despite lower plasma docosahexaenoic acid levels in the mother. A high level of DHA suggests that such mothers have an adaptive mechanism to provide more DHA to their babies,” said Joshi.
He said that the omega-3 fatty acids are transferred to the fetus primarily during the period of rapid growth in the last trimester of pregnancy, which is also a period of extensive brain growth. “These fatty acids cannot be synthesized by infants and must be supplied through placental transport to the fetus and human milk or milk substitute formulae to the infant,” said Joshi.
The omega-3 fatty acids are mainly required for brain and retinal development. “Deficiency of these fatty acids results in various mental disorders such as ADHD in children and schizophrenia and mental depression in later life. “Our results highlight the need to breast feed infants born to pre-term or pre-eclamptic mothers in order to reduce the risk of developing various mental disorders, said Joshi.
Ranjekar added, “The study can be used as a guide for pharma companies which manufacture infant milk formulae.”