Obesity Could be the Culprit Behind Low Milk Production in Lactating Mothers

Chronic inflammation could be the reason behind low breast-milk production in lactating mothers.

Highlights:

Mothers are unable to complete breastfeeding their newborns due to insufficient breast-milk production
Chronic inflammation as seen in obesity could be the reason for inadequate breast-milk production
Inflammation prevents uptake of fatty acids which are essential in breast-milk production

Breastfeeding confers multiple health benefits to mothers and infants. Eighty percent of mothers breastfeed their infants. However, only 25% breastfeed exclusively for the six months recommended by United States Dietary Guidelines. Many factors contribute to this drop-off in breastfeeding, including work related stress and social isolation. Physical problems with producing enough milk, however, are cited as one of the most common reasons that mothers stop breastfeeding before the time they have planned. A new study showed that inflammation in lactating mothers who are obese may contribute to low milk production ().

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‘Recent research suggests that persistent inflammation may inhibit mammary glands from receiving the fatty acids required for breast-milk production.’

Inflammation and Uptake of Fatty Acids

Obesity maybe one of the risk factors for insufficient milk production in lactating mothers. In people who are obese, chronic inflammation starts in the body’s fat cells and spreads via circulation to organs and systems throughout the body, according to the research team. Prior research showed that inflammation may disrupt the absorption of fatty acids from the blood into body tissues ().

Fatty acids are required for the production and utilization of energy throughout the body. Fatty acids are the building blocks for the fats needed to feed a growing infant in nursing women. The researchers hypothesized that inflammation may negatively impact milk production by preventing absorption of the fatty acids into the milk-producing mammary glands.

The researchers analyzed blood and milk from a study conducted at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and the University of Cincinnati. In the original study, researchers recruited 23 mothers who had very low milk production despite frequent breast emptying (which is the standard medical practice for increasing milk production), 20 mothers with moderate milk production, and 18 mothers who were breastfeeding exclusively and who served as the control group for the study.

 In the current study, the researchers analyzed fatty acid and inflammatory marker profiles in both blood and breast milk.

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Obesity and Breast-milk Production

Compared to those in the moderate milk production and exclusively breastfeeding groups, mothers with very low milk production had significantly higher obesity and biological markers of systemic inflammation. They also had lower proportions of long-chain fatty acids in their breast-milk and disrupted association between blood and milk fatty acids. Milk and blood fatty acids were strongly correlated in controls, but not in the very low or moderate milk production groups.

Research has shown repeatedly that there is a strong connection between the fatty acids that you eat and the fatty acids in your blood. The study was one of the first to examine whether the fatty acids in blood are also found in breast milk.

Correlation of Fatty Acids in Blood and Breast-milk

For women who are exclusively breastfeeding, the correlation was very high; most of the fatty acids that appeared in blood were also present in the breast-milk. But for women who had chronic inflammation and were struggling with milk production, that correlation was almost completely gone. This is strong evidence that fatty acids are not able to enter the mammary gland for women with chronic inflammation.

For years, research has shown that mothers with obesity are at increased risk of shortened breastfeeding duration. This study provides clues about the mechanisms that may account for this result ().

Breastfeeding has innumerable benefits for both the mother and child, including lower risk of chronic disease for mom and lower risk of infections for baby.

The research contributes to a better understanding of what might be happening in mothers with obesity and chronic inflammation. This could lead to strategies or treatments that allow more mothers who wish to breastfeed to do so in the future.

References:

Fatty Acid Transfer from Blood to Milk is Disrupted in Mothers with Low Milk Production, Obesity, and Inflammation - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36208911/)
Rapid downregulation of adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase activity on food deprivation: evidence that TNF-alpha is involved - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14693508/)
Gestational weight gain is associated with delayed onset of lactogenesis in the TMCHC study: A prospective cohort study - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30502974/)

Source-Medindia

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