Comparison of glycerophospholipid and sphingolipid in mature milk from different sampled regions in the Chinese human milk project (CHMP) study

Milk phospholipids (PLs) are critical components of infant growth. This study aimed to discover PL in mature human milk (HM) from China (n = 201) and mainly assessed the effect caused by sampled regions. The average total PL concentration was quantified from 3.65 to 11.25 mg per g of lipid, and the major PL class identified was sphingomyelin (SM, 38.06-47.62 %), followed by phosphatidylcholine (PC, 29.61-34.39 %), and phosphati-dylethanolamine (PE, 10.54-24.46 %). In addition, the 36:2 (18:0/18:2), 38:6 (16:0/22:6), 40:1 (d18:1/22:0), and 42:2 (d18:1/24:1) were the most abundant molecular species identified in glycerophospholipid and SM molecular species respectively. Some PL molecular species were strongly related with region of sampling, like lysophosphatidylinositol 18:1 was only detected in Beijing. In conclusion, those findings showed that the PL molecular species and concentration of HM had significant regional diversity, and it will give the Chinese human milk database more accurate PL data.

Automated summary

This study aimed to discover phospholipids in mature human milk from China and found significant regional diversity in the molecular species and concentration of phospholipids.