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  • Original Article
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Maternal and pediatric nutrition

Comparative measurement of ghrelin, leptin, adiponectin, EGF and IGF-1 in breast milk of mothers with overweight/obese and normal-weight infants

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 69, pages 614–618 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Obese infants are more susceptible to develop adulthood obesity and its related comorbidities. Previous studies have shown the presence of hormones and growth factors in maternal breast milk that may influence infant adiposity. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in concentrations of three hormones and two growth factors in the breast milk of mothers with obese and non-obese infants.

Subjects/Methods:

In this cross-sectional study, 40 mothers with overweight or obese infants (weight for length percentile >97) and 40 age-matched mothers with normal-weight infant (−10<weight for length percentile<85) who were between 2 and 5 months of age were enrolled. Anthropometric indices of infants and mothers were measured by routine methods. Breast milk concentrations of ghrelin and adiponectin, leptin, epithelial growth factor (EGF) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay methods.

Results:

The mean breast milk concentration of ghrelin was higher in mothers with normal-weight infants, 137.50 pg/ml, than in mothers with obese infants, 132.00 pg/ml (P=0.001). This was also true regarding the concentration of EGF in mothers with (0/04 ng/ml) and without (0/038 ng/ml) normal-weight infants (P=0.01). No significant differences were observed in concentrations of leptin, adiponectin and IGF-1 between two groups (P>0.05). There was also a significant positive correlation between EGF and ghrelin in both groups.

Conclusions:

This study revealed that there was a correlation between ghrelin and EGF level in breast milk of mothers with obese and non-obese infants, suggesting a possible regulatory effect of these two hormones on weight in infants.

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to all participants, all fieldworkers, data and laboratory staffs for taking part in this study. This work was supported by Research Project No. 89962, as a MSc dissertation, financed by Research Council of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.

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Author notes

  1. A Khodabakhshi and M Ghayour-Mobarhan: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    A Khodabakhshi, M Dahri, M Mazidi & M Safarian

  2. Biochemistry of Nutrition Research Center, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    M Ghayour-Mobarhan

  3. Cardiovascular Research Center, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    M Ghayour-Mobarhan & S R Mirhafez

  4. Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, Neyshabur, Iran

    H Rooki

  5. HTLV-I Foundation, Ghaem Hospital, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    R Vakili

  6. Addiction Research Centre, Imam Reza Hospital, School of Medicine, Mashad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    S-I Hashemy & H Mirzaei

  7. Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    M-T Shakeri

  8. Department of Biochemistry, Payame Noor University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

    R Kashanifar & R Pourbafarani

  9. Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, University of Keele, Guy Hilton Research Centre, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, UK

    G Ferns

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  1. A Khodabakhshi
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  14. M Safarian
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M Safarian.

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Khodabakhshi, A., Ghayour-Mobarhan, M., Rooki, H. et al. Comparative measurement of ghrelin, leptin, adiponectin, EGF and IGF-1 in breast milk of mothers with overweight/obese and normal-weight infants. Eur J Clin Nutr 69, 614–618 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.205

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