Work

Maternal Body Composition and Its Relationship to Infant Breast Milk Intake in Rural Pakistan

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: Some women in rural Pakistan are chronically undernourished, and consequently underweight. Concerns have been expressed that the degree of undernourishment might be sufficiently severe to affect lactation performance. We have obtained data on maternal body composition and infant breast milk intake using stable isotope methods in a group of thirty three mother and infant pairs at approximately six months of age. The maternal body mass index ranged from 16.6 to 29.1 kg·m(-2). In this population we found that exclusive breast-feeding tended to be associated with lower maternal body fat, and that there was no evidence for compromised lactational performance due to malnourishment. Finally we note that when our data is combined with that from other studies there may be a generalised negative correlation between breast milk intake and maternal body fat.

Source: Food and Nutrition Sciences

DOI: 10.4236/fns.2011.29127

Authors: Nafeesa Nazlee, Rakhshanda Bilal, Zahid Latif, Les Bluck

Institutions: Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, MRC Elsie Widdowson Laboratory

Language: English

Topic: Breastfeeding Practices and Influences

Subfield: Epidemiology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Zero hunger

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: International Atomic Energy Agency, Higher Education Commision, Pakistan