Table 5. Studies examining the association between breast milk ghrelin concentrations and maternal BMI.

Author, Year	Maternal n Number	Sample Type, Preparation and Analysis Protease inhibitor used	Time of day, fasted/fed	Timing of Collection (day/week/month)	Maternal BMI (kg/m2)	Breast milk Ghrelin (pg/mL)			Statistical Analysis
Aydin, 2006	Total study = 17 BMI analyses, number not stated “only a few participants examined”	Foremilk. Skimmed. RIA, no protease inhibitor.	Not disclosed	1 day post-partum, 7 days post-partum, 15 days post-partum	28.98±1.35, time not reported	1D = 73±18*, 7D = 84±18, 15D = 97±13			Spearman’s correlation between milk ghrelin concentrations and BMI r = 0.42, p = 0.19
Aydin, 2007	29	Foremilk. Skimmed. RIA and HPLC analysis, no protease inhibitor.	Morning, overnight fast	2 days post-partum, 15 days post-partum	Post-partum 29.6±1.9	RIA, Control, 2D = 64.1, 15D = 55.5, GDM, 2D = 26.1, 15D = 54.1, P-GDM, 2D = 28.5, 15D = 32.1,		HPLC, Active, 23±6, Non-active, 548±12, Total, 571±128	No correlation observed between ghrelin concentrations and post-partum maternal BMI
Aydin, 2010	20	Type of milk not reported. No sample preparation. ELISA. Protease inhibitor added	Not disclosed	Colostrum and mature milk	36.3±3.2, time not reported	ColostrumControl GDM Mature Milk Control GDM	Active 39.2±2 27.7±2 Active 48.2±5.1 27.7±2	Non-active 466.1±52 338.1±49 Non-active 505.1±52 359.1±51.2	Spearman’s correlation between fasting milk ghrelin concentrations and BMI was not significant r = 0.46, p = 0.6

ELISA: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; GDM: Gestational Diabetes; HPLC: High Performance Liquid Chromatography; P-GDM: Pre-Gestational Diabetes; PP: post-partum; RIA: radioimmunoassay.

*Data are given as means and standard deviations unless stated otherwise.