Fig 1.
Carotenoid species identified in milk.
C atoms are labeled to indicate positions of cis- isomers.
Table 1.
Demographic characteristics of human milk donors.
Fig 2.
Chromatogram at 450 nm of carotenoids.
Milk (top), neonatal plasma (middle), and maternal plasma (bottom) from the same family in the USA cohort at week 4. Peak identification: (a) 13- or 13’-cis-lutein (b) 13’- or 13-cis-lutein, (c) all-trans- lutein, (*) unidentified, (d) all-trans-zeaxanthin, (e) 9- or 9’-cis- lutein, (f) α-cryptoxanthin, (g) β-cryptoxanthin, (h) echinenone internal standard,(i) 15-cis-β-carotene, (j) 13-cis-β- carotene, (k) α-carotene, (l) all-trans-β- carotene, (m) 9-cis-β-carotene, (n,o) cis-lycopene isomers, (p) all-trans-lycopene, (q) 5-cis-lycopene.
Fig 3.
Box plots of major carotenoid species (sum of all identified cis and trans isomers) contents (nmol/L) by country and lactation stage.
Boxes represent 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles. Circle represent mean. Whiskers represent either minimum/maximum or 25th/75th minus/plus 1.5 x interquartile range, whichever is closer to the median.
Table 2.
Summary of carotenoid content of human milk and p-values of Country and Lactation stage ANOVA main effects (n = 60 donors, n = 240 samples).
Fig 4.
Total lipid content (g/L) by country and lactation stage.
Boxes represent 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles. Circle represent mean. Whiskers represent either minimum/maximum or 25th/75th minus/plus 1.5 x interquartile range, whichever is closer to the median.
Fig 5.
Scatterplots representing correlations between major carotenoids in milk (nmol/g lipid) and maternal/ neonatal plasma (nmol/L).
Beta-carotene and lycopene represent sum of cis and trans isomers. All-trans-lutein was used for correlations instead of sum of isomers because cis-lutein isomers were below the detection limit in neonatal plasma.