Fatty acid composition of Bengali mothers' milk : A survey based population study

Department of Chemical Technology, University of Calcutta, 92, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road,

Kolkata-700 009, India

E-mail : susmita.roy. naihati@gmail. com    Fax : 91-33-23519755

Manuscript received 09 September 2011, revised 14 June 2012, accepted 03 July 2012

This study is aimed to investigate the fatty acid profile of Bengali mothers' milk. Total 108 mothers were included in this study. All the mothers were belonging to the medium income group with average monthly income of Rs. 5000-10000. Mothers of Kolkata and its two adjacent areas, North and South 24-Parganas are included in this study. Their nutritional status was documented by a food frequency questionnaire which consists the usual foods taken by the mothers. The percentage of medium chain fatty acids (C_8:0 to C_14:0) are of special importance as they are increased with increasing consumption of carbohydrate rich foods. The amount of n-6 PUFA is 12.88 ± 0.83 and n-3 PUFA is 3.61 ± 0.33. Two essential fatty acids, linoleic acid (LA, C_18:2 n-6) and α-linolenic acid (ALA, C_18:3 n-3) are abundantly present in green leafy vegetables which are passed in human milk through diet of the mothers. Long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) are metabolites of these two essential fatty acids. Oily fish and vegetable oils are recognized as dietary sources of n-3 and n-6 PUFAs respectively. Among LCPUFAs docosahexaenoic acid (C_22:6 n-3) and arachidonic acid (C_20:4 n-6) are of special importance as these two fatty acids play important roles in brain and visual acuity development in newborns.