Essential fatty acids in human colostrum

We analyzed the colostrum of 11 mothers, consuming a normal hospital diet, for total fat content and various fatty acids. Three of the mothers had given birth four weeks prematurely. Total fat content of the colostrum ranged from 2.16 to 3.65 g/100 ml. The major fatty acids were palmitic acid (16:0) and oleic acid (18:1) (24.3 and 39.7% (w/w), respectively). The dominating polyunsaturated fatty acid was linoleic acid (18:2n-6) (11.5% of the total fatty acids). Linolenic acid (18:3n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3) accounted for 0.7 and 0.6%, respectively, of the sum of total fatty acids. The ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids was 0.42, ranging from 0.28 to 0.5, and the ratio of n-6/n-3 fatty acids was 6:1. Linoleic acid and linolenic acid were positively correlated with each other (p < 0.02), whereas palmitic acid was negatively correlated with oleic acid (p < 0.05). We conclude that the average human colostrum contains the recommended level and balance of the essential fatty acids required by the newborn baby.