Nutrients · 7 authors, 3 centres
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This prospective cohort study investigated whether breastmilk folate or maternal plasma folate is associated with infant folate status and growth in the first 4 months. It found that higher breastmilk folate was associated with higher infant folate status but not with infant growth measures.
This prospective cohort study of 120 exclusively breastfed infants and their mothers examined associations between breastmilk folate concentration (5-MTHF) and maternal plasma folate at 8 weeks postpartum with infant folate status and anthropometric growth from birth to 4 months. The key finding was that higher breastmilk 5-MTHF concentration was associated with higher plasma folate in infants at 4 months (39.2 vs 37.4 nmol/L) and with lower maternal plasma 5-MTHF, indicating folate depletion in mothers. However, no associations were found between maternal or breastmilk folate and infants' longitudinal weight, height, or head circumference z-scores. The study had limitations, including being an exploratory analysis, lacking maternal RBC-folate and MTHFR genotype data, and potential variation in breastmilk folate measurement. The results suggest adaptive mechanisms might counteract low milk folate effects on growth and highlight the need for further research on folate-binding proteins.
