The study investigated the concentration of IgA, IgM and IgG in colostrum, transitional and mature milk and the effect of parity, age, BMI and family income on secreted immunoglobulin contents of human milk.
Sequential samples of colostrum, transitional and mature milk were collected from 38 women. Enzymelinked immunosorbent assay was used to analyse the immunoglobulin concentrations.
The study revealed that IgA was the dominant immunoglobulin and mean concentration in colostrum, transitional and mature milk was 5.92 ± 1.50 g/L, 3.85 ± 0.64 g/L and 3.72 ± 0.68 g/L, respectively. Both IgA and IgM levels of colostrum decreased significantly in both transitional (
The findings suggest that immunoglobulin composition in breast milk is strongly associated with stage of lactation and is likely to be more susceptible to parity than BMI and socioeconomic characteristics.