O estado nutricional e o consumo alimentar maternos interferem nos compostos bioativos do colostro humano

Abstract

Introduction: Human milk is considered the ideal source of nutrition for the newborn. In the first seven days of life, this newborn receives the colostrum that contains the largest portions of immune compounds essential for the maturation of the gastrointestinal tract and infant immune system. However, some factors, such as maternal obesity and consumption of ultra-processed foods, may change the concentration of these immune compounds in colostrum. In this context, it becomes relevant to evaluate changes in the concentrations of these immune compounds present in colostrum according to maternal nutritional status and in the presence of consumption of ultra-processed foods, since these changes can impact the development of the newborn's immune system. Objective: This study aims to verify whether maternal consumption of ultra-processed foods and whether maternal nutritional status interfere with the immune composition of colostrum. Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional study, carried out with three groups of women hospitalized in the immediate postpartum period in a reference maternity hospital in Belo Horizonte. The groups were divided according to pre-pregnancy nutritional status: eutrophic, overweight and obese. Socioeconomic, health and anthropometric data from the pregnant woman's book and postpartum evaluation were gathered. Also, in the postpartum period, about 2mL of colostrum were collected from these women for analysis of the concentrations of cytokines, growth factors and chemokines through multiplex immunoassay. Results: 32 women participated in the study, 31.25% of these women had insufficient weight gain, 37.5% had adequate weight gain and 31.25% had excessive weight gain during pregnancy. The mean and standard deviation of the age of the women in the sample was 27.84 ± 6.25 respectively. The group of obese women is the one that consumes less in natura and more ultra-processed foods. Women with high consumption of ultra-processed foods have lower concentrations of VEGF and FGF-basic, but higher concentrations of IL-10. Women with higher consumption of fresh foods have higher concentrations of IL-7. In a general study, it was observed that women with higher consumption of ultra-processed products have a higher frequency of production of inflammatory cytokines and a lower frequency of anti-inflammatory cytokines and Th2. Conclusion: In this perspective, the data obtained in this work confirm the idea that a high consumption of ultra-processed foods causes changes in the concentrations of cytokines, growth factors and chemokines present in human colostrum.