Breast feeding results in long term health benefits in the prevention of communicable and non-communicable diseases at both individual and population levels. Geographical location directly impacts the composition of breast milk including microbiota and lipids. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of geographical location, i.e., Europe (Spain and Finland), Africa (South Africa)...

Although it has long been known that there are seasonal variations in the chemical characteristics of butterfat, it has as yet not been possible to assess the relative importance of nutritional and lactational influences. Moreover, in the Northern Hemisphere the problem is further complicated by the climatic effects, which necessitate the maintenance of cows indoors during the colder months, th...

The objective of this study was to compare milk protein, amino acid and fatty acid content and composition among two breeds of river buffalo (Murrah and Nili-Ravi), and their hybrid F1 and F2 (crossbreeding with local swamp buffalo). The protein and fat content in milk from crossbreed F1 and F2 were significant higher than that of river buffalo, but the milk yield was still lower than Nili-Ravi...

BACKGROUND Human milk and infant gut microbiota are essential for the immune system maturation and protection against infections. There is scarce information on the microbiological composition of breast milk in general, and none from developing countries. The objective of the study was to characterize the breast milk and gut microbiota from mothers and infants from southern Mozambique, where in...

BACKGROUND Accurately targeting the nutritional needs of the early preterm infant is challenging when human milk is used due to the natural variation in energy composition. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a simple method for reducing the variation in fat and energy content of human milk prior to fortification such that the infant receives a diet of known composition. MET...

BACKGROUND The effect of breast milk fatty acid (FA) composition, particularly levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), on infant health outcomes is unclear. Part of the reason for this is difficulties in collecting, storing and shipping milk samples to the laboratory. Here we report the validation of a dried milk spot (DMS) system to measure FA composition to help overcome these obstacles. Milk F...

BACKGROUND Infant cognitive development can be positively influenced by breastfeeding rather than formula feeding. The composition of breast milk, especially lipid quality, and the duration of breastfeeding have been linked to this effect. OBJECTIVE We investigated whether the physical properties and composition of lipid droplets in milk may contribute to cognitive development. METHODS From...

Previous investigations have shown that cobalt (Co) modifies milk fat composition in cattle, consistent with an inhibition of stearoyl-coenzyme A desaturase (SCD) activity, but it remains unclear whether other ruminant species are also affected. The present study examined the effects of oral administration of Co acetate on intake, rumen function, and milk production and fatty acid (FA) composit...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of vegetable oil supplementation of ewe diets on the performance and fatty acid (FA) composition of their suckling lambs. Forty-eight pregnant Churra ewes (mean BW 64.3±0.92 kg) with their 72 newborn lambs (prolificacy=1.5) were assigned to one of four experimental diets, supplemented with 3% of hydrogenated palm (PALM), olive (OLI), soya ...

the objective of this study was to determine the effect of different levels of sesame wastes (sw) on performance, milk composition and blood metabolites in lactating dairy cows. in this order, eight multiparous holstein dairy cows were used in a replicated 4×4 latin square design in four periods of 21 days. treatments were control (no sesame meal supplementation), and supplemented with 5, 10 an...