From: Nutritional supplements and mother’s milk composition: a systematic review of interventional studies
First author surname, citation number | Type of Supplement | Characteristics of Participants | Type of study | Aim | Type of Nutrients Evaluated in Milk | Main Findings | Jadad scale points and WHO divisions |
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Dodge [73] | 50 mg selenium daily as selenomethionine or a placebo. | Twenty-two healthy young women between the ages of 20–30 years. | Single blind clinical trial | To evaluate the effect of selenium supplementation on the concentration of breast milk fatty acids in lactating women. | selenium and activity of glutathione peroxidase (Gpx) | Selenium concentration of breast milk was significantly increased by the supplementation (P = 0.0001 and 0.003, respectively), but glutathione peroxidase activity was unchanged. The selenium supplement also significantly increased the concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids in breast milk (P = 0.02), especially linoleic acid (P = 0.02), and decreased the concentration of saturated fatty acids (P = 0.04). | 3/5 WPRO (Western Pacific Regional Office) |
Dylewski [74] | sodium selenate at 20 lg/day | 23 lactating women who had not smoking, having no pregnancy complications, having an infant born at term (37 to 40 weeks). | Randomized clinical trial | To evaluate the impact of supplemental selenium as sodium selenate at 20 lg/day on maternal milk. | Selenium | Selenium supplementation increased milk Se from 3 (295 ± 18 nmol/L; 23 ± 7 ng/ mL) to 6 months (417 ± 39 nmol/L; 32 ± 14 ng/mL) postpartum (P ≤ 0.01) | 1/5 Americas (AMRO) |
Flax [75] | lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) that contained 1.3 times the Recommended Dietary Allowance of sodium selenite, antiretroviral drugs (ARV), LNS and ARV, or a control. | 526 HIV-infected Malawian mothers and their uninfected infants attended in the Breastfeeding, Antiretrovirals, and Nutrition study | Randomized clinical trial | To determine the effects of lipid-based nutrient supplements maternal plasma and breast-milk selenium concentrations. | Selenium concentrations | Selenite supplementation of women was not associated with a change in their plasma or breast-milk selenium concentrations. | 3/5 Africa (AFRO) |
Moore [76] | Two groups and given either a placebo (n = 10) as yeast or selenium-enriched yeast tablets (n = 11) | 21 pregnant women between the ages of 20 and 30 years living in Xichang County, China, a rural area in this country with historically low selenium intake | a single-blind, placebo-controlled, intervention study | To evaluate the effect of selenium supplementation on plasma and milk selenium concentrations and GPX activity over time after parturition. | Selenium | The milk selenium levels were higher in supplemented women but there were no differences in the milk GPX activity between the two groups of women. The plasma a-tocopherol concentrations declined after parturition in both groups but no differences were found between the two groups of women. | 3/5 WPRO (Western Pacific Regional Office) |
Trafikowska [77] | 200 mg Se/day in the form of yeast-Se and sodium selenate. | Sixty seven lactating healthy women with aged 19 to 39 years (mean 26.7 years). | Randomized clinical trial | To determine the effect of selenium supplementation to lactating women on milk Se concentrations. | Selenium glutathione 1eroxidise (GSH-Px) | After 1 month in both groups SE level reached a plateau at 14–16 mglL. In both Se-supplemented groups the levels increased significantly reaching a plateau of 14–16 mg/L after 1 month. The difference was significantly higher than controls in the yeast-Se group (P < 0.0001) and the selenite-Se supplemented group (P < 0.01). | 1/5 Europe (EURO) |
Trafikowska [78] | Sixteen lactating women were supplemented for 3 months with 200 pg Seday-‘in the form of SeY. The supply was started 3–4 weeks postpartum. | 16 healthy lactating mothers. | Randomized clinical trial | To assess the ability of maternal supplementation with Se-enriched yeast (SeY) to influence the Se status of lactating women and infants, mother’s milk, and additionally to estimate the infant’s dietary Se intake. | Se and GSH-Px activities of red cell haemolysate. | Supplementation of lactating mothers with selenium-enriched yeast increases rapidly and significantly the Se concentration and glutathione 2eroxidise activity in maternal blood components. Se concentration in milk is also significantly elevated. After 1 month the mean Se intakes by breastfed infants were greater than the recommended dietary allowance of 10 pg day-‘for infants from birth to 6 months of age. | 1/5 Europe (EURO) |