Dear all
Follows a note from Peter Hartman whcih should clarify issues in the current debate
...............................
Our observatiions show that occassionally the fat content on the milk will
be higher just before a breastfeed than just after the feed. We argue that
this is due incomplete mixing of the high fat milk left in the breast after
the breastfeed with the low fat milk that drains towards the nipple from
that breastfeed up to the next breastfeed.
If I recall correctly, the main point that I was making in Orlando was that
the fat content of fore milk can change over the course of the day. That
is, if a mother has a high storage capacity, and the baby has an extended
period without feeding during the 24h period, eg over night. In this
situation the fore milk in the morning will have a very low fat content and
because the baby does not remove all the available milk at the morning
feeds, the fat content of the hind milk will also be quite low compared to
later in the day when most of the available milk is removed by the end of
each breastfeed. In these mothers it is quite common for the fat content
of fore milk in the evening to be higher than the fat content of hind milk
at morning feeds. (see Daly, S.E.J.; Di Rosso, A; Owens, R.A. and
Hartmann, P.E.
Degree of breast emptying explains changes in the fat content, but not
fatty acid composition, of human milk. Experimental Physiology 78:
741-755 (1993); Hartmann, P.E.; Morgan, S.E.G. and Arthur, P.A Milk letdown
and the concentration of fat in breast milk. In "Human Lactation 2:
Maternal-Environmental Factors", Ed. Hamosh, M. and Goldman, A.S. (Plenum
Publishing Corp.: NY) 275-281 (1986) and also see Atwood, C.S. and
Hartmann, P.E. Collection of fore- and hind-milk from the sow. Journal of
Dairy Research 59: 287-298 (1992)).
This may be of assistance to the discussion.
Regards
Peter
Professor Peter E. Hartmann
Head of Department of Biochemistry
The University of Western Australia
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