Breast milk composition in Bangladeshi mothers measured as the percentage of 26 individual FAs, with computed percentage of derived major fractions
| FA | Formula | Abbrev* | PROVIDE MalChip n=616 | PROVIDE GWAS n=532 | CRYPTO Mirpur n=402 | CRYPTO Mirzapur n=208 |
| Saturated FA | SFA | 48.29 (6.63) | 48.16 (6.51) | 44.61 (5.95) | 43.62 (5.89) | |
| Capric | C10:0 | CAP | 1.17 (0.52) | 1.15 (0.52) | 0.78 (0.44) | 0.62 (0.4) |
| Lauric | C12:0 | LAU | 8.20 (3.01) | 8.18 (2.99) | 5.85 (2.32) | 5.10 (2.41) |
| Myristic | C14:0 | MYR | 8.04 (3.06) | 8.01 (3.04) | 6.40 (2.62) | 6.55 (2.81) |
| Palmitic | C16:0 | PAL | 26.67 (3.71) | 26.64 (3.76) | 26.6 (3.63) | 26.79 (3.23) |
| Stearic | C18:0 | STE | 3.93 (0.82) | 3.89 (0.77) | 4.67 (0.96) | 4.26 (0.78) |
| Arachidic | C20:0 | ARA | 0.14 (0.03) | 0.14 (0.03) | 0.15 (0.04) | 0.14 (0.03) |
| Behenic | C22:0 | BEH | 0.07 (0.02) | 0.07 (0.02) | 0.07 (0.02) | 0.06 (0.02) |
| Lignoceric | C24:0 | LIG | 0.08 (0.03) | 0.08 (0.03) | 0.08 (0.03) | 0.10 (0.05) |
| Monounsaturated FA† | MUFA | 36.69 (5) | 36.76 (5.06) | 36.45 (4.94) | 38.10 (5.03) | |
| Palmitoleic | C16:1n7 | PLE | 2.94 (1.09) | 2.96 (1.1) | 2.67 (0.91) | 3.76 (1.14) |
| Oleic | C18:1n9 | OLE | 33.18 (4.59) | 33.24 (4.67) | 33.09 (4.53) | 33.03 (4.37) |
| Eicosenoic | C20:1n9 | EIC | 0.41 (0.16) | 0.41 (0.16) | 0.50 (0.2) | 0.82 (0.47) |
| Nervonic | C24:1n9 | NER | 0.15 (0.11) | 0.15 (0.11) | 0.19 (0.14) | 0.48 (0.36) |
| Polyunsaturated FA-ω6† | PUFA-ω6 | 13.17 (5.3) | 13.24 (5.36) | 16.75 (5.45) | 15.96 (4.29) | |
| Linoleic | C18:2n6 | LA | 11.21 (5.03) | 11.29 (5.09) | 14.36 (5.15) | 13.05 (4.08) |
| γ-Linolenic | C18:3n6 | GLA | 0.16 (0.11) | 0.16 (0.11) | 0.21 (0.12) | 0.17 (0.1) |
| Eicosadienoic | C20:2n6 | EDA | 0.41 (0.17) | 0.41 (0.18) | 0.54 (0.2) | 0.66 (0.2) |
| Dihomo-γ-linolenic | C20:3n6 | DGLA | 0.55 (0.17) | 0.55 (0.17) | 0.64 (0.2) | 0.73 (0.22) |
| Arachidonic | C20:4n6 | AA | 0.53 (0.15) | 0.53 (0.15) | 0.65 (0.14) | 0.81 (0.17) |
| Docosatetraenoic‡ | C22:4n6 | DTA | 0.18 (0.1) | 0.18 (0.1) | 0.21 (0.1) | 0.34 (0.18) |
| Docosapentaenoic-n6 | C22:5n6 | DPA6 | 0.12 (0.05) | 0.12 (0.05) | 0.13 (0.05) | 0.2 (0.08) |
| Polyunsaturated FA-ω3† | PUFA-ω3 | 1.12 (0.5) | 1.12 (0.5) | 1.39 (0.59) | 1.65 (0.45) | |
| α-Linolenic | C18:3n3 | ALA | 0.53 (0.4) | 0.54 (0.4) | 0.78 (0.53) | 0.82 (0.37) |
| Eicosapentaenoic | C20:5n3 | EPA | 0.06 (0.07) | 0.06 (0.07) | 0.05 (0.04) | 0.05 (0.02) |
| Docosapentaenoic-n3 | C22:5n3 | DPA | 0.14 (0.08) | 0.14 (0.08) | 0.15 (0.07) | 0.22 (0.09) |
| Docosahexaenoic | C22:6n3 | DHA | 0.39 (0.14) | 0.39 (0.14) | 0.40 (0.14) | 0.55 (0.14) |
| Total polyunsaturated FA† | PUFA | 14.29 (5.69) | 14.36 (5.75) | 18.14 (5.92) | 17.61 (4.59) | |
| Trans-FA | TFA | 0.74 (0.34) | 0.73 (0.32) | 0.81 (0.32) | 0.67 (0.26) | |
| Palmitelaidic | C16:1n7t | PLA | 0.06 (0.03) | 0.06 (0.03) | 0.07 (0.03) | 0.08 (0.03) |
| Elaidic | C18:1 t | ELA | 0.36 (0.25) | 0.35 (0.24) | 0.41 (0.25) | 0.32 (0.19) |
| Linoelaidic | C18:2n6t | LLA | 0.32 (0.16) | 0.32 (0.16) | 0.33 (0.17) | 0.27 (0.14) |
| Ratios | ||||||
| SFA/PUFA | 3.95 (1.69) | 3.92 (1.66) | 2.81 (1.24) | 2.74 (1.21) | ||
| PUFA-ω6/PUFA-ω3 | PUFA6/3 | 12.40 (3.25) | 12.48 (3.28) | 12.84 (3.14) | 9.98 (2.15) |
All FA compositions are expressed as %wt/wt. Values shown are mean (SD).
The columns show the clinical values for the subset of each total cohort with breast milk FAs measured and post-QC for genetic data, as per table 1.
*Abbrev is the abbreviation for the FA used throughout this manuscript.
†All monounsaturated and polyunsaturated FAs are cis-isomers.
‡Also known as adrenic acid.
CRYPTO, Cryptosporidiosis in Bangladesh; FA, fatty acid; GWAS, genome wide association studies; PROVIDE, Performance of Rotavirus and Oral Polio Vaccines in Developing Countries; QC, quality control.