Tassiane Cristina Morais
University of São Paulo, Brazil
Title: Obesity and Breastfeeding: the pre-pregnancy maternal BMI changes the melatonin levels of human colostrum. Preliminary results
Biography
Biography: Tassiane Cristina Morais
Abstract
Obesity, complex public health problem, is associated with deregulation of circadian rhythms and reductions in the physiological levels of melatonin. The melatonin is secreted mainly by the pineal gland and it plays an essential role in the temporal regulation of biological rhythms and the energy metabolism. Melatonin is present in colostrum and human milk. This fact illustrates the importance of this indolamine for child development. However, the impact of maternal overweight on melatonin levels in colostrum still remains unclear. Therefore, the aim of this project was to analyze the influence of maternal pre-pregnancy overweight on colostrum melatonin levels. It was carried out cross-sectional study, followed by laboratory analysis of human colostrum. The colostrum samples were collected from 14 clinically healthy women, between 48 and 72 hours postpartum in Brazilian public hospital. The women were classified according to pre-gestational BMI into the following groups: normal BMI (18.5 a 24.9 Kg/m2, n=7) and high BMI (≥25 9 Kg/m2, n=7). The melatonin in the colostrum were determined by ELISA kit (IBL). The ANOVA and Tukey test were used (p<0.05). Data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. The melatonin levels in the colostrum were higher in high BMI group (27.2±2.57 pg/mL) than normal BMI group (18.43±4.84 pg/mL), p=0.0014. These results highlight the importance of colostrum melatonin in the pathogenesis of obesity. Thus, the breastfeeding promotion represents a very important way for the developing intervention strategies focused on the prevention of obesity. Financial Support: FAPESP, process n° 2015/01051-3 and 2015/19922-0.