How Much Calories In Breast Milk?

Find more articles by 1Department of Paediatrics, MRL Wellcome TrustMRC Institute of Metabolic Science, NIHR Cambridge Comprehensive Biomedical Research Center, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Pediatrics Department, MRL Wellcome TrustMRC Institute of Metabolic Science, NIHR Cambridge Comprehensive Biomedical Research Center, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Find more articles by 1Department of Paediatrics, MRL Wellcome TrustMRC Institute of Metabolic Science, NIHR Cambridge Comprehensive Biomedical Research Center, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Find more articles by 1Department of Paediatrics, MRL Wellcome TrustMRC Institute of Metabolic Science, NIHR Cambridge Comprehensive Biomedical Research Center, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Find more articles by 1Department of Paediatrics, MRL Wellcome TrustMRC Institute of Metabolic Science, NIHR Cambridge Comprehensive Biomedical Research Center, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

The advantages of human breast milk (HM) in preventing early childhood obesity and later weight gain may be related to its nutrient content. We investigated the possibility that variations in HM total calorie content (TCC) or macronutrient contents could influence infant growth.

HM hindmilk samples were obtained from 614 mothers who were a part of a representative birth cohort at ages 4 to 8 weeks, along with repeated infant anthropometry. By using 1H-NMR, the HM triglyceride (fat), lipid analytes, lactose (carbohydrate), and protein content were measured. TCC and %macronutrients were determined.

Fat content in 614 HM samples was as follows: [median(IQR)]: 2 6 (1. 7–3. 6) g/100 mL, carbohydrate: 8. 6 (8. 2–8. 8) g/100 mL, protein: 1. 2 (1. 1–1. 2) g/100 mL; TCC: 61. 8 (53. 7–71. 3) kcal/100 mL. HM of mothers exclusively breast feeding vs. Mixed feeding was higher in fat, lower in carbohydrates, and lower in protein, making it more calorific. Lower 12-month body mass index (BMI)/adiposity and lower 3- to 12-month weight/BMI gains were related to higher HM TCC. Weight, BMI, and adiposity gains over 3–12 months were inversely correlated with HM%fat, while these measurements were positively correlated with HM%carbohydrate. HM %protein was positively related to 12‐months BMI.

HM analysis showed wide variation in %macronutrients. Despite the lack of data on milk consumption, our findings point to the functional relevance of HM milk composition to infant growth.

Growing evidence suggests that early postnatal nutrition may have effects on long-term health outcomes in addition to being essential for optimal infant growth. Rapid early infant weight gain increases the risk of being overweight later in life, increases central adiposity, and increases insulin resistance. Specific dietary compositions and volume of intake, as well as the type of infant milk feeding (exclusive breastfeeding, formula feeding, or mixing feeding), may be significant factors.

Breastfeeding has been linked, despite controversy, to a lower risk of obesity and associated metabolic disease over the course of a person’s life in modern Western settings, as well as slower increases in infancy weight and body fat. Uncertainty exists regarding the causes of the slower infancy weight gain in breast-fed infants, including whether it is due to lower total calorie intake or the nutrient makeup of human breast milk (HM). Recent reviews 7, 8 of earlier studies demonstrating the energy or macronutrient contents of HM Few studies attempted to determine the impact of HM composition on subsequent infancy growth outcomes, and the majority used small sample sizes.

Therefore, studies comparing artificial infant milk formulas are essentially the only source of evidence regarding the potential effects of milk’s nutrient composition on a child’s growth. There is conflicting evidence regarding milk calorie contents, but they report that higher milk protein concentrations increase infancy weight gain and predisposition to obesity (9). In a large UK birth cohort study, we sought to examine the associations between HM total calorie content, macronutrient contents, or individual lipid species and infancy growth in the absence of extensive population studies. We postulated that certain HM compositions might be connected to various patterns of weight gain and adiposity during infancy.

As previously mentioned, the Cambridge Baby Growth Study (CBGS) is a prospective birth cohort that focuses on antenatal and early postnatal determinants of infancy growth. From 2001 to 2009, mothers were selected from one Cambridge antenatal center during the early stages of pregnancy. The entire cohort consisted of 1585 singletons who were late preterm/term (gestation 36 weeks) and had measurements at birth. At eight weeks old, 924 of these mothers were still breastfeeding their children. The current study describes a subcohort of 614 mother-infant pairs where a breast milk sample was available. All mothers provided written informed consent for the study, which received approval from the Cambridge Local Research Ethics Committee.

At birth, three months later, and one year later, trained paediatric research nurses measured infants to determine their weight, length, and skinfold thickness. With the help of a Seca 757 electronic baby scale (Seca, Birmingham, UK), weight was calculated to the nearest 1 g. Supine length was measured to the nearest 0. 1 cm using a Seca 416 Infantometer (Seca, Birmingham, UK). BMI was then calculated. Using a Holtain Tanner/Whitehouse Skinfold Caliper (Holtain Ltd, Crymych, UK) at four locations on the left side of the body (triceps, subscapular, flank, and quadriceps), skinfold thickness was measured in triplicate.

Mothers who breastfed their children were asked to hand express hindmilk samples between four and eight weeks postpartum from the same breast they last used to feed their child in order to ensure comparable samples and informative macronutrient analysis. To lessen within-day and day-to-day variations, they repeatedly performed this procedure, keeping milk samples frozen, and collected 100 mL of hindmilk over a two-week period. After that, samples were processed at a single time point while being kept frozen at 20°C. The pooled sample was thoroughly mixed before analysis.

Overall, infant feeding practice (exclusive breast vs. At three months old, a questionnaire was used to evaluate the infant’s mixed feeding. The questionnaire included detailed questions about the infant’s current feeding as well as the age at which the infant first began receiving supplemental formula milk feeds. At eight weeks of age, concurrent with the breast milk collections, infants were classified as either exclusively breastfed or mixed-feeding based on this information.

Utilizing 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra, triglyceride (fat) and lactose (carbohydrate) concentrations were determined in homogenized HM samples. 400 microliters of a homogenized HM sample were combined with 400 microliters of CDC13 solvent for 10 minutes to determine the lipid concentrations (in mmol/L), and then the mixture was centrifuged for 30 minutes at 10,000 rpm using an Eppendorf centrifuge 5424 (Eppendorf AG, Hamburg, Germany)]. The lipid concentrations were then determined from the 1H-NMR spectra of the nonpolar fraction. Since triglyceride concentration makes up 95–98% of the total HM lipid content, it was used as a proxy for total fat content. Ten additional lipid species, including docosahexaenoic acid, diglycerides, monoglycerides, esterified cholesterol, free cholesterol, total cholesterol, omega 3 fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, were also quantified. Using 1H 1D NOESY spectroscopy, lactose, the primary HM carbohydrate, was determined from the polar fraction of the milk sample. The coefficient of variation (CV) for NMR was 0 when the reproducibility of the NMR methods was evaluated. 03–0. 3% for lipid analysis, and 0. 1–0. 6% for analysis of polar metabolites, such as lactose. Analysis of various aliquots from the same sample revealed zero-value CVs. 3–5. 8% for lipids and 0. 4–4. 7% for the polar metabolites. Topspin was used to calibrate NMR spectral peaks, and analysis was done based on prior research 14. The Dumas method was used to measure total nitrogen for protein, and the protein factor conversion of 6 25 was used to calculate crude protein content.

Because of the continued activity of lipases and the coalescence of fat globules, prior research has demonstrated that storage conditions may potentially affect the macronutrient content, particularly the fat content. But before conducting the analysis, we took care to homogenize the HM samples. Calories, fat, and carbohydrates were not affected by storage time; however, protein was only weakly positively correlated with storage time [% per year, B (correlation coefficient) 0]. 01, p = 0. 01]. This is why multiple regression was used to account for storage time in analyses.

By comparing newborn infant weight, length, and BMI measurements to the UK 1990 growth reference 16 and adjusting for gestational age in the newborn, age- and sex-appropriate standard deviation scores (SDS) were calculated. An internal SDS was calculated for each of the four skinfold thicknesses, corrected for age, and the mean of the four skinfold SDS was used as an estimate measure of adiposity in analyses.

The total calorie content (TCC) of HM was then calculated as kcal/100 mL after the metabolisable energy content of HM was calculated using Atwater conversions, taking energy contents of 4, 4, and 9 kcal/g for protein, lactose, and fat, respectively. In order to present macronutrient contents as a percentage of total calorie content, the nutrient density method was used (i e. %fat, %carbohydrate and %protein) 19. Given that the lipid species were highly correlated (all Spearman’s coefficients were greater than 0), it was necessary to distinguish between independent effects of the various lipid species. 51, p < 0. 0005), we employed the residual nutrient method: each lipid concentration was regressed against the triglyceride concentration, standardised residuals for each lipid species were computed, and these values were utilized in subsequent analysis.

Using t-tests, chi-squared tests, or independent sample median tests, the demographics of the cohort subgroup with HM samples were compared to those of the entire CBGS cohort, and in particular to all mother-infant pairs who were exclusively or mixed-feeding at eight weeks.

The following variables were included in the multivariate regression models used to examine the relationships between HM TCC, or%macronutrient contents, and infancy growth: birthweight, gestational age, infant sex, nutrition type, and HM storage time. Analyses were performed using SPSS version 20 (IBM Corp. , Armonk, NY), and p value 0 denoted statistical significance. 05.

All mother-infant pairs in the CBGS who were breastfeeding (exclusively or in combination with formula feeding, n = 924) were similar to the subcohort of 614 mothers of singleton, late preterm/term infants who provided a HM sample. Regarding gestational age, maternal age, pre-pregnancy BMI, primiparity, ethnicity, infant size at birth, and subsequent growth to 12 months of age, there were no differences. Further details of the subcohort are shown in Table .

TCC was [median (IQR)] 61 for the 614 HM samples examined. 8 (53. 7–71. 3) kcal/100 mL. The macronutrient composition was as follows: fat (triglycerides) 2. 6 (1. 7–3. 6) g/100 mL; protein 1. 2 (1. 1–1. 2) g/100 mL; and carbohydrate (lactose) 8. 6 (8. 2–8. 8) g/100 mL. Table displays macronutrient contents expressed as calories per 100 mL and TCC percentages.

In addition, HM total calorie and macronutrient contents were not related to infant sex (data not shown), mothers’ pre-pregnancy BMI, pregnancy weight gain, parity, gestational age at delivery, or socioeconomic status (as determined by home postcode-based index of multiple deprivation scores as previously reported 20).

At 8 weeks, 77% of the mothers who provided a HM sample were exclusively breastfeeding; the remaining mothers mixed breastfeeding with infant formula feeding. HM of mothers who exclusively breastfed had higher TCC (medians) (62 6 vs. 58. 7 kcal/100 mL), higher %fat (37. 6 vs. 35. 0%), but lower %protein (7. 3 vs. 8. 3%) and %carbohydrate (54. 7 vs. 57. 5%), all p < 0. 05. Using multivariate regression modeling, all subsequent analyses were modified for exclusive versus mixed breastfeeding.

Table demonstrates that HM TCC at 4–8 weeks was inversely related to BMI (p = 0). 02) and adiposity (p = 0. 008) at 12 months of age and with weight increases of three to 12 months (p = 0) 02) and BMI (p = 0. 01). Regarding the percentage of macronutrients, HM%fat was inversely related to BMI and adiposity at 12 months as well as gains in weight, BMI, and adiposity from three to 12 months. In contrast, between three and twelve months, HM%carbohydrate was positively correlated with weight, BMI, and adiposity gains. The relationship between quintiles of HM%fat or%carbohydrate and adiposity/BMI at 12 months was largely linear, as seen in the figure. At 12 months, HM%protein and BMI had a positive correlation (p = 0). 04), with no correlation to 12-month weight, adiposity, or gains from three to twelve months. For comparison, the figure also displays the adiposity/BMI for 271 CBGS infants who were exclusively fed formula at the time of the HM sample collection. Infant length at any age did not correlate with HM%macronutrient contents.

Separate sensitivity analyses by feeding group (exclusive breastfeeding vs mixed feeding at eight weeks). These displayed associations with the same axes as the overall population (complete data not displayed). For instance, the associations with 12-month adiposity in the exclusively breastfed subgroup (n = 389) were as follows:% HM protein: B 0. 02, p = 0. 3, % carbohydrate: B 0. 009, p = 0. 01, % fat: B −0. 007, p = 0. 02 and total calories: B −0. 005, p = 0. 07.

Table 1 displays the concentrations of ten distinct HM lipid species. For each lipid species, in separate models (adjusted for birthweight, gestational age, sex, and exclusively breast vs. When infant adiposity was measured at 12 months after mixed feeding, all ten lipid species displayed inverse associations (data not shown). Linoleic acid was the only lipid species that continued to be inversely related to infant adiposity at 12 months using the residual nutrient method (p = 0). 05).

This study of 614 mother-infant pairs is the largest report we are aware of describing the contents of HM macronutrients and the first thorough examination of their relationships with infancy growth. We demonstrated negative correlations between HM total calorie content and later weight, BMI, and adiposity gains. In terms of specific HM macronutrients, %carbohydrate was positively correlated to adiposity, BMI, and subsequent infant weight gains, whereas %fat was negatively correlated with these infancy outcomes. However, gains in adiposity were not associated with HM%protein and BMI at 12 months.

Due in large part to the lack of other comprehensive studies, associations between HM contents and infancy growth have not been previously reported. The observed positive association between HM%protein content and 12-month BMI, however, is consistent with experimental data from significant clinical trials that compared isocaloric infant milk formulas with high versus usual protein contents, supporting the design of our study. Unfortunately, because HM intakes were not examined in this study, we are unable to determine whether nutrient intakes were a mediating factor in the associations found with HM contents.

Relevantly, a recent study found an inverse relationship between body fat measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis at age 20 and the amount of fat consumed at age two. This suggests that earlier diets with more fat may benefit later body composition either directly or indirectly. Increased intake of carbohydrates may encourage the storage of fat and glycogen. Alternately, it’s possible that infants fed HM with lower percent fat may feel less satisfied and consume more milk, resulting in weight gain. Older studies that found infants consuming formula milk with lower energy had higher dietary intakes 11 and previous observations that HM%fat was inversely related to the volume of HM intake while %lactose was positively correlated 22 support this theory.

According to a recent systematic review, eating more protein during infancy and the first few years of life is linked to quicker weight gain and higher BMI in children 23. Since we lacked more precise body composition information, it was challenging to determine whether we had gained lean mass or fat mass. Compared to other macronutrients, we found relatively less interperson variability in %protein, and it’s possible that greater variations in %protein, like those seen in studies 9 on formula milk, are required to detect meaningful effects of protein content on infant weight gain.

Due to differences in the timing of HM collection with sample pooling, sampling of only hindmilk, HM assays, and the makeup of the populations sampled, it is challenging to directly compare our results with those of other previous studies of HM constituents. A recent systematic review compiled information from at least 18 studies worldwide, with the largest sample size of 71 in any one study, to summarize the results of’mature’ HM samples (taken 2-4 weeks postnatally) 7, totaling 415 for protein, 476 for carbohydrates, and 567 for lipids. Due to the size of our study, which is much larger than any other study that has been reported, we can make informative associations with HM macronutrient contents that fall within the range of the values from earlier combined meta-analyses.

Heinig et al. 24 demonstrated a positive correlation between total energy and protein intakes and weight, not only in formula-fed infants (n = 46), but also in those who were exclusively breastfed (n = 73). In particular, total protein intake was associated with weight gain in breastfed infants from three to six months and six to nine months. Butte et al. 25 found that in 40 breastfed infants and 36 formula-fed infants, intakes of HM protein, fat, and carbohydrate were all positively correlated with weight gain and fat-free mass gain (assessed using a multicomponent body composition model) at 3-6 months, but not with fat mass gain. These studies evaluated intakes rather than HM content, had much smaller cohorts, assessed anthropometry at various time points, and used various techniques for collecting HM and analyzing nutrients. Additional, larger studies across various populations are required, using a standardized sampling protocol to provide information on composition and intakes.

It is noteworthy that there was no discernible relationship between infant length gains and the associations between HM macronutrient contents and infant anthropometry in our study, which focused primarily on weight, BMI, and adiposity. This is unexpected because infant weight gain and stature development are linked, so it is possible that other confounding factors could account for the findings regarding adiposity. Maternal characteristics could be one source of confounding. A few small earlier studies, such as parity 26 and maternal anthropometric status 27, have demonstrated correlations between particular maternal factors and HM fat content. We did not find any correlations between such maternal factors and HM nutrient contents, suggesting that these associations have not been well replicated or extended to all macronutrients. Although we did not examine the maternal diet, other studies have found no connection between HM contents and diet 27.

Alternative explanations for the relationships with HM macronutrients, particularly the inverse relationships between lipid and infancy adiposity, include other components of breast milk, such as specific lipid moieties. It was challenging to separate the potential independent growth contribution from individual fatty acids, which have a strong correlation with total lipid. Only linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid, consistently and independently displayed an inverse relationship with later infancy adiposity. It should be noted that n-3 and n-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids have drawn attention in the literature with regard to growth and development, with suggestions of positive effects on growth, for instance, with alpha-linoleic/DHA supplementation in developing countries 28, but generally speaking, there is a dearth of data for n-3 or n-6 LC-PUFAs 15, 16, and 17. To confirm our findings and further explore this area, more thorough LC-PUFA analyses and subsequent studies are needed.

When compared to mothers who were mixed-feeding, the higher total calorie content found in HM from mothers who were exclusively breastfeeding is consistent with other observations, maintaining adequate continued nutrition 29, and suggests that HM energy content may be downregulated by infants who are mixed-fed. Our findings of growth associations may be supported by the higher percentage of fat and lower percentages of protein and carbohydrates found in the milk of mothers who exclusively breastfeed infants, suggesting that this HM composition is advantageous in terms of future infant adiposity. Another theory is that babies who consume HM with a higher percentage of fat feel fuller and are more likely to continue nursing, whereas babies who consume HM with a lower percentage of fat are more likely to receive additional formula milk.

Alternately, there might be variations in HM production, controlled by the nursing child, or even possible confounding factors caused by the collection methods used by mothers who express milk. It is plausible that the exclusively fed infants consumed more milk and that their HM samples contained relatively more hindmilk because hindmilk has more fat than foremilk (30). No interaction between feeding type and macronutrient content was observed in analyses after we adjusted for exclusive breast versus mixed feeding, so this problem is unlikely to affect the associations with infant growth. The exclusively breastfed subgroup also showed similar trends between HM macronutrient contents and infancy body size/growth: although generally less significant in this smaller group, correlations were in the same direction, and with similar effect sizes.

Our study’s limitations include the lack of information on HM intakes, which prevented us from calculating total energy and macronutrient intakes. It is known that HM lipid and protein contents vary depending on the type of feed and the stage of lactation 7, 8. Mothers were encouraged to combine their collections of expressed hindmilk over a two-week period; however, it’s possible that there were systematic differences between collections since the timing of milk collection wasn’t recorded. Some of these restrictions will be addressed and the subject of additional research.

In this extensive study of HM macronutrient content, we discovered that the composition of HM nutrients in early infancy varies between mothers who exclusively breastfeed and those who use a combination of feeding methods. A noteworthy finding was that HM%fat and%carbohydrate predicted changes in infant weight and adiposity gains up to age 12 months, with HM%protein positively correlated with 12month BMI. There were no associations with length gains. Our results imply that higher HM%fat but lower HM%carbohydrate may be associated with lower gains in adiposity and BMI despite the lack of data on milk intake.

PP was supported by a MRC Clinical Training Fellowship (G1001995). The World Cancer Research Foundation International, the Medical Research Council, the NIHR Cambridge Comprehensive Biomedical Research Center, the Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children, the Mothercare Group Foundation, and Mead Johnson Nutrition have all provided funding for the Cambridge Baby Growth Study.

This study received unconditional funding support from Mead Johnson Nutrition. Mead Johnson Nutrition employees MH Schoemaker and EAF van Tol. No other authors declare a conflict of interest.

We thank Suzanne Smith, Ann-Marie Wardell, and Karen Forbes, CBGS research nurses. The Addenbrookes Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility staff, the NIHR Cambridge Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre, and the midwives at the Rosie Maternity Hospital in Cambridge, UK, are all gratefully acknowledged for their contributions to the study.

Average calorie & fat content of human milk

The average calorie content of human milk is 22 kcal/oz. However, because fat content changes throughout the day and from feeding to feeding, caloric content varies greatly. Since the amount of breast emptyness affects the amount of fat in the milk (an empty breast has a high fat content, whereas a full breast has a low fat content), the amount of fat in human milk changes significantly throughout the day and at each feeding. The average fat content of human milk is 1. 2 grams/oz.

Find more articles by 1Department of Paediatrics, MRL Wellcome TrustMRC Institute of Metabolic Science, NIHR Cambridge Comprehensive Biomedical Research Center, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

According to a recent systematic review, eating more protein during infancy and the first few years of life is linked to quicker weight gain and higher BMI in children 23. Since we lacked more precise body composition information, it was challenging to determine whether we had gained lean mass or fat mass. Compared to other macronutrients, we found relatively less interperson variability in %protein, and it’s possible that greater variations in %protein, like those seen in studies 9 on formula milk, are required to detect meaningful effects of protein content on infant weight gain.

Fat content in 614 HM samples was as follows: [median(IQR)]: 2 6 (1. 7–3. 6) g/100 mL, carbohydrate: 8. 6 (8. 2–8. 8) g/100 mL, protein: 1. 2 (1. 1–1. 2) g/100 mL; TCC: 61. 8 (53. 7–71. 3) kcal/100 mL. HM of mothers exclusively breast feeding vs. Mixed feeding was higher in fat, lower in carbohydrates, and lower in protein, making it more calorific. Lower 12-month body mass index (BMI)/adiposity and lower 3- to 12-month weight/BMI gains were related to higher HM TCC. Weight, BMI, and adiposity gains over 3–12 months were inversely correlated with HM%fat, while these measurements were positively correlated with HM%carbohydrate. HM %protein was positively related to 12‐months BMI.

At birth, three months later, and one year later, trained paediatric research nurses measured infants to determine their weight, length, and skinfold thickness. With the help of a Seca 757 electronic baby scale (Seca, Birmingham, UK), weight was calculated to the nearest 1 g. Supine length was measured to the nearest 0. 1 cm using a Seca 416 Infantometer (Seca, Birmingham, UK). BMI was then calculated. Using a Holtain Tanner/Whitehouse Skinfold Caliper (Holtain Ltd, Crymych, UK) at four locations on the left side of the body (triceps, subscapular, flank, and quadriceps), skinfold thickness was measured in triplicate.

Mothers who breastfed their children were asked to hand express hindmilk samples between four and eight weeks postpartum from the same breast they last used to feed their child in order to ensure comparable samples and informative macronutrient analysis. To lessen within-day and day-to-day variations, they repeatedly performed this procedure, keeping milk samples frozen, and collected 100 mL of hindmilk over a two-week period. After that, samples were processed at a single time point while being kept frozen at 20°C. The pooled sample was thoroughly mixed before analysis.

FAQ

How many calories breastfeed?

Women who are breastfeeding have an increased caloric requirement of 450–500 calories per day.

How many calories do babies get from breast milk per day?

Add 175 to (weight in kg x 89–100) for the average daily calorie intake for infants 0–3 months. Add 56 to (weight in kg x 89-100) for infants between the ages of four and six months.

Is breast milk higher in calories than formula?

20 calories per ounce are typically found in regular breast milk or formula. Most babies do well on regular breast milk or formula. If your baby is smaller than usual or gains less weight than you anticipate, she might need high-calorie breast milk or formula.

How many calories does 100ml mother’s milk have?

Mature human milk is made up of 3%-5% fat, 0. 8%-0. 0% protein, 6. 9%-7. 2% carbohydrate calculated as lactose, and 0. 2% mineral constituents expressed as ash. The energy content is 60-75 kcal/100ml. Compared to mature milk, colostrum has a significantly higher protein content and a lower carbohydrate content.