Book Section #17975

Abstract

Breastfeeding has numerous health benefits both for the infants and the nursing mothers. In addition to its short-term benefits, it is documented that breastfeeding has preventative roles against chronic noncommunicable diseases including hypertension, obesity, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and cardiovascular diseases in adulthood. These health benefits of human milk are correlated with its nutritional and bioactive components including antimicrobial substances, anti-inflammatory components and hormones, which modulate the body metabolism and composition. Breastfeeding duration is also one of the factors that might determine the amount of biological effects of milk. The composition of milk changes constantly during lactation to provide nutritional necessities to protect infant against potential harmful pathogens. In addition, gestational length, maternal diseases and nutrition influence the composition of human milk. The protein content of human milk gradually reduces from the second to the sixth or seventh month of lactation and stabilizes at the final step. Protein concentration is associated with body weight gain of infant and immune protection, as well as increase in nutrient digestion and availability of micronutrient. The fat content increases during lactation and would affect neurological development and cognitive outcome of infant. Human milk carbohydrates impact on the appetite regulation and body composition, which would protect infant against obesity. Understanding the human milk composition over time and its health benefits can be important for primordial prevention of non-communicable diseases. This chapter aims to summarize the current literature on the composition of human milk and its life-course functional effects on health outcomes. © 2021 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.