Systematic review of fatty acid composition of human milk from mothers of preterm compared to full-term infants

Background: Fatty acid composition of human milk serves as guidance
for the composition of infant formulae. The aim of the study was to
systematically review data on the fatty acid composition of human
milk of mothers of preterm compared to full-term infants. Methods:
An electronic literature search was performed in English (Medline
and Medscape) and German (SpringerLink) databases and via the
Google utility. Fatty acid compositional data for preterm and
fullterm human milk were converted to differences between means and
95% confidence intervals. Results: We identified five relevant
studies publishing direct comparison of fatty acid composition of
preterm versus full-term human milk. There were no significant
differences between the values of the principal saturated and
monounsaturated fatty acids. In three independent studies covering
three different time points of lactation, however, docosahexaenoic
acid (DHA) values were significantly higher in milk of mothers of
preterm as compared to those of full-term infants, with an extent
of difference considered nutritionally relevant. Conclusion: Higher
DHA values in preterm than in full-term human milk underlines the
importance of using own mother's milk for feeding preterm babies
and raises the question whether DHA contents in preterm formulae
should be higher than in formulae for full-term infants. Copyright
(c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.