TABLE 3.

Mean term and preterm human milk FA-associated metabolite concentrations measured over the first month of lactation by ¹H NMR spectroscopy¹

		Day 0–5		Day 14		Day 28
FA-associated metabolites and infant maturity at birth	P2	Concentration, mmol/L	Biological CV, %	Concentration, mmol/L	Biological CV, %	Concentration, mmol/L	Biological CV, %
Acetate
T	0.12	0.019 ± 0.010	49	0.021 ± 0.014	69	0.015 ± 0.010	67
PT	0.24	0.016 ± 0.004	23	0.015 ± 0.009	65	0.035 ± 0.022	62
Azelate
T	<0.0001	0.018 ± 0.017	97	0.065 ± 0.052	80	0.071 ± 0.064	90
PT	0.04	0.008 ± 0.010	125	0.033 ± 0.043	132	0.059 ± 0.044	74
Butyrate
T	<0.0001	0.010 ± 0.011	110	0.022 ± 0.018	83	0.046 ± 0.039	84
PT	0.04	0.006 ± 0.006	97	0.016 ± 0.013	85	0.056 ± 0.059	105
Caprate
T	<0.001	0.007 ± 0.004	60	0.019 ± 0.010	50	0.026 ± 0.021	81
PT	0.18	0.008 ± 0.007	83	0.025 ± 0.025	100	0.033 ± 0.026	79
Caprylate
T	<0.0001	0.023 ± 0.017	74	0.057 ± 0.032	56	0.100 ± 0.081	82
PT	0.04	0.024 ± 0.036	151	0.077 ± 0.084	110	0.212 ± 0.203	96
Choline
T	<0.01	0.106 ± 0.061	57	0.079 ± 0.043	55	0.070 ± 0.028	41
PT	0.93	0.141 ± 0.084	60	0.105 ± 0.067	64	0.138 ± 0.103	75
Ethanolamine
T	<0.01	0.035 ± 0.013	38	0.070 ± 0.017	24	0.057 ± 0.016	27
PT	0.27	0.047 ± 0.017	37	0.058 ± 0.025	43	0.071 ± 0.024	34
Glycero-3-phosphocholine
T	<0.001	0.210 ± 0.193	92	0.587 ± 0.158	27	0.512 ± 0.164	32
PT	0.04	0.149 ± 0.137	92	0.522 ± 0.332	63	0.506 ± 0.217	43
myo-Inositol
T	<0.0001	1.59 ± 0.413	26	0.916 ± 0.267	29	0.972 ± 0.227	23
PT	0.24	1.42 ± 0.789	56	1.01 ± 0.319	32	0.800 ± 0.195	24
Phosphocholine
T	0.14	0.626 ± 0.337	54	0.697 ± 0.128	18	0.714 ± 0.129	18
PT	0.22	0.432 ± 0.203	47	0.705 ± 0.188	27	0.682 ± 0.371	54

¹Values are means ± SDs unless otherwise indicated; day 0–5, n = 15 term and n = 10 preterm; day 14, n = 14 term and n = 10 preterm; and day 28, n = 15 term and n = 6 preterm. Mean concentrations include both secretors and nonsecretors. The biological percentage CV (%CV) was calculated as SD/mean × 100. PT, preterm; T, term.

²P values are based on linear mixed-effects or linear models, which tested whether term or preterm milk metabolite concentrations significantly changed over the first month of lactation.