Trans Fatty Acid and Conjugated Linoleic Acid Content in Human Milk

Matured human milk from healthy mothers was studied for Trans and conjugated fatty acid (CLA) and prostaglandin E2 content. Average fat content was 2.74g/100ml, somewhat less than that reported for milk in Japanese mothers. Cholesterol and phospholipids showed essentially average values. In total fatty acids, trans acid was 1.18% on the average (0.61 to 2.22%), which is slightly less than for Western countries. The content of trans acid was unrelated to that of PGE2. CLA was approximately 0.3% of total fatty acids, but varied marked from 0.1 to 0.7%. Raw cows milk contained 0.3% total fatty acids as CLA (about 12mg/g fat) and the particular strain of cow and time of milking appeared determinating factors. Values for city milk was comparable to those of raw milk.