Sialic acid content of infant saliva: comparison of breast fed with formula fed infants
Human Nutrition Unit, Department of Biochemistry,
University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Correspondence to: Professor Brand Miller.
Accepted 2 July 1997
Sialic acid is found in especially high
concentrations in brain gangliosides, and supplementary sialic acid is
associated with increased learning behaviour in animals. It was
hypothesised that breast fed infants may have higher concentrations of
sialic acid in body fluids and tissues because human milk is a rich
source of sialylated oligosaccharides, while formulas contain very
little. The aim therefore was to compare the sialic acid content of
saliva collected from full term infants who were either solely breast fed or formula fed until weaning at 3-5 months of age. Thirty three
infants, 18 breast fed and 15 formula fed, were studied at a mean (SD)
age of 5 (2) months. The breast fed infants, when compared with formula
fed infants, were found to have almost two times more free sialic acid
in saliva (mean (SE) 16.0 (2.7) v 8.2 (2.1) mg/l, p < 0.036) and nearly 50% more total sialic acid (47.3 (3.9)
v 32.2 (4.4) mg/l, p<0.014). The findings provide a
preliminary indication that an exogenous source of sialic acids derived
from human milk may contribute to higher concentrations of sialic acid
in body fluids. There are important implications for the formulation of
human milk substitutes.
|
Key messages
|
© 1997 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Park, E. J., Suh, M., Thomson, B., Thomson, A. B.R., Ramanujam, K. S., Clinin, M. T.
(2005). Dietary ganglioside decreases cholesterol content, caveolin expression and inflammatory mediators in rat intestinal microdomains. Glycobiology
15: 935-942
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Wang, B., McVeagh, P., Petocz, P., Brand-Miller, J.
(2003). Brain ganglioside and glycoprotein sialic acid in breastfed compared with formula-fed infants. Am. J. Clin. Nutr.
78: 1024-1029
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Wang, B., Brand-Miller, J., McVeagh, P., Petocz, P.
(2001). Concentration and distribution of sialic acid in human milk and infant formulas. Am. J. Clin. Nutr.
74: 510-515
[Abstract] [Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in ADC Online
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
