Fatty acids of breast milk help babies sleeping longer, discovers the study

New research shows that the composition of natural fatty fatty acids can play a key role in promoting better and longer sleep for infants, highlighting the impact of early nutrition on healthy development.

In a recent study published in Le Journal of NutritionThe researchers examined associations between polyunsaturated fatty acids (AGPI) in breast milk (HM). Moreover, sleep habits in infants.

Infant sleep is a process of dynamic development, intertwined with body weight, cognition and metabolism. Similarly, Various studies highlight the importance of sleep for regulatory, physiological and metabolic processes. Similarly, Infants spend about 70% of their time sleeping in the first weeks of life. Meanwhile, with evidence indicating lasting effects of sleep habits on health results.

An exclusive HM diet is recommended for the optimal development and growth of infants for the first six months. fatty acids breast milk help Nevertheless, Fats are a major Macronutrients in HM, the AGPIs representing one fifth of total HM fats. Furthermore, AGPs are essential for key development processes. For example, including maturation of the central nervous system (SNC) and retinal and brain function; AGPS can also affect sleep regulations. Nevertheless, there are limited research on how HM PUFA content relates to sleep results in infants exclusively nourished at HM.

About the study – Fatty acids breast milk help

In this study. researchers evaluated associations between PUFA in HM and sleep habits in infants exclusively fed at HM. This study was a secondary analysis of the data of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating the efficiency of. lactation cookies.

Female parents of infants exclusively nourished at HM two months old in the United States were eligible for inclusion if their infant was healthy. ultimately a healthy pregnancy and uncomplicated birth. The data was collected on the socio-demography. size and weight fatty acids breast milk help of maternal pre-gloss, as well as the weight and length of the birth of the infant.

The infant’s sleep data was obtained using the brief sleep questionnaire for infants. The main result of the study was the total sleep time of an infant in 24 hours. estimated as the sum of night sleep and total diurnal time. The secondary results included sleep latency and night awakenings. Participants were invited to provide fasting milk samples for analysis.

Fatty acid methyl esters have been extracted from samples and analyzed using chromatography ionization in the gas phase. Multivariate linear linear regression models have been used with the total sleep time of 24 hours of infants as the main results. nighttime awakenings and sleep latency as exploratory results. The models were adjusted for the body mass index before pregnancy (BMI). the diet number, the sex of the infant and the two -month Z scores.

fatty acids breast milk help

Results

The initial test included 176 participants; This sub-study included 131 people who provided a sample of milk. Additionally, The average infant age was 2.04 months to collect milk samples. Most participants had obesity or overweight before pregnancy (63.4%), a baccalaureate or more (63%) and identified as white (81.7%). On average, the total sleep of 24 hours was 14.6 hours, the infants sleeping for 6.22 hours during the day and 8.44 hours per night.

The average sleep latency was 43.8 minutes. The AGPIs constituted 20.9% of Total HM fatty acids. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids represented 1.7% and 19.1% of fatty acids respectively. Linoleic acid (the) represented 17.7% of total HM fatty acids. Eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid (average 0.20%), arachidonic acid and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) formed 0.06%, 0.20%, 0.45%and 1.37%respectively.

HM omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids were significantly associated with the total duration of sleep. Among the individual AGPs, the fatty acids breast milk help and ALA were significantly associated with the total duration of sleep. However, no significant association was found for the duration of the night sleep.

Higher proportions of PUFA HM have shown significant associations with diurnal sleep time rather than night sleep time. Similarly, among the individual AGPIs, the and ALA were positively associated with diurnal sleep.

Conclusions

Overall. the results revealed that a higher proportion of PUFA HM compared to total HM fatty acids was associated with a clinically significant increase in the infant’s sleep time.

In particular. each 1% increase in omega-3 HM fatty acids was associated with approximately 60 minutes of additional sleep, while 1% increase in omega-6 fatty acids was correlated to around 8 additional minutes. However. the researchers noted that an increase in omega-3 to 1% represents a larger relative change (approximately two standard deviations) compared to omega-6 (approximately 0.25 SD), warning against the direct comparison fatty acids breast milk help of these values.

In particular, the Sleep Increments linked to the AGPIs were exclusively observed during daytime periods. In addition. the ALA showed significant associations with diurnal and total sleep, suggesting a potential role in regulating sleep via mechanisms discussed in the article, such as modulation of the circadian rhythm or the release of melatonin.

The limits of the study include its conception of observation. which prevents causal inference; possible recall bias due to sleep data declared by caregivers; And the lack of adjustment for multiple comparisons, which can increase the falsely positive risk.

In addition. the study was based on the proportions of fatty acids rather than on absolute concentrations, which only provide additional information. Additional research is necessary to corroborate these results. delimit the underlying biological mechanisms and examine the impact of maternal food and lactation factors on the infant’s sleep trajectories.