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Amino acid composition of the milk of some mammalian species changes with stage of lactation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

Teresa A. Davis ,
Hanh V. Nguyen ,
Roselina Garcia-Bravo ,
Marta L. Fiorotto ,
Evelyn M. Jackson  and
Peter J. Reeds
Teresa A. Davis
Affiliation:
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
Hanh V. Nguyen
Affiliation:
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
Roselina Garcia-Bravo
Affiliation:
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
Marta L. Fiorotto
Affiliation:
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
Evelyn M. Jackson
Affiliation:
Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, TX, 78228, USA
Peter J. Reeds
Affiliation:
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
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Abstract

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To determine whether the amino acid composition of milk changes during lactation, we compared the amino acid pattern (concentration of each individual amino acid relative to the total amino acid concentration) of colostrum with that of mature milk in six mammalian species. In the human, horse, pig and cow, the pattern of amino acids changed between colostrum and mature milk: glutamate, proline, methionine, isoleucine and lysine increased; cystine, glycine, serine, threonine and alanine decreased. In these four species, the total amino acid concentration also decreased 75% between colostrum and mature milk. In the baboon (Papio cynocephalus anubis and Papio cynocephalus anubis/Papio cynocephalus cynocephalus) and rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta), however, there was little change in the pattern of amino acids between colostrum and mature milk, and total amino acid concentration decreased only about 25% between colostrum and mature milk. Mature milk rather than colostrum was the most similar among the three primates in both amino acid pattern and total amino acid concentration. We conclude, in those species in which total amino acid concentrations decline substantially between colostrum and mature milk, amino acid patterns also change. The presence of a change in amino acid pattern and total amino acid concentration during lactation appears to be unrelated to phylogenetic order.

Keywords

Milk compositionNeonatal nutritionLactation
Type
Stage of lactation and amino acid composition of milks
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 72 , Issue 6 , December 1994 , pp. 845 - 853
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1994

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