Breast milk is a natural and complete form of food specially tailored for an infant that prepares him for a healthy life ahead.
However, a proper maternal diet during breastfeeding is also crucial because the detrimental health effects are passed on from mother to child.
According to researchers, breast feeding moms should avoid trans fats because apart from adding pounds on the women they can take a toll on the baby's weight as well.
Researchers found that infants whose mothers consumed more than 4.5g of trans fats daily while breastfeeding were twice as likely to have high percentages of body fat (adiposity) than those whose mothers consumed less than 4.5g.
Lead author of the study, Dr. Alex Anderson, assistant professor of foods and nutrition at the University of Georgia, USA stated, “This observation calls for closer look at the trans-fatty acid content in the maternal diet, especially during the period of breastfeeding, to prevent the risk of excess adiposity and the associated chronic diseases later in life."
Impact of trans fats on child through breast milk assessed
For the purpose of the study, the researchers examined 96 women and their babies. The participants were highly educated, non-Hispanic white women.
They were divided into three groups, comprising of mothers who only breast fed their infants, those that only used formula, and those that used a combination of breast milk and formula.
Findings of the study
It was noted that infants of mothers who consumed more than 4.5 grams of trans fat daily while breastfeeding were twice as likely to have a high percentage of body fat than those whose mothers consumed lower amounts of the fat.
Infants that were exclusively breastfed exhibited higher percent body fat compared with babies fed with a mixed diet of breast milk and formula.
Apart from the infants’ body fat levels, the researchers also found that irrespective of a woman’s pre-pregnancy weight, mothers who consumed more than 4.5 grams a day of trans fats daily elevated their own risk of fat accumulation almost six-fold.
The team looked at different types of fat, but found trans fats to be the most important contributor to excess body fat.
Professor Anderson stated, “Trans fats stuck out as a predictor to increased adiposity in both mothers and their babies.
"This data suggests that trans fats intake could have a more significant weight-gain effect on breastfeeding mothers than it does at other times in their lives.”
Need for further research
Although, the study establishes the health dangers of eating trans fats, the researchers feel there is need for further research to substantiate the findings in a larger more diverse group.
"It would help to be able to follow the child from when the mother was pregnant, through birth, and then adolescence, so that we can confirm what the type of infant feeding and maternal diet during breastfeeding have to do with the recent epidemic of childhood obesity
," said Anderson.
The study appears in the early online edition of the 'European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.'
source: themedguru
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