A metabolomic study of preterm and term human and formula milk by proton MRS analysis: preliminary results

Objective: To investigate changes in global metabolic profile between: 1 - breast milk and formula milk, 2 - breast milk from mothers delivering at different gestational age (GA) collected within one week from delivery, and then week by week until term equivalent age. Methods: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was used to analyze the water-soluble and lipid fractions extracted from 50 milk samples, 46 human milk at different GA, from 23 weeks of gestation until term equivalent age and four different formula milks. Results: The formula milk for premature infants was the most similar to breast milk of preterm babies. Breast milk showed higher lactose concentrations than formula milk, that conversely presented higher galactose 1-phosphate and maltose concentrations. Mother's milk of very preterm babies (23-25 wks of GA) showed a different metabolic profile from preterm infants >= 29 wks of GA with a subsequent trend to similarity around the 30th week of post-natal age. Breast milk from preterm infants of 29-34 wks, collected up to 40 wks of post-natal age showed a temporal change over the first three weeks of lactation, approaching to zero with the achievement of term age. Conclusions: Metabolome is a promising tool to study human and artificial milk global metabolic profile.