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. 2023 Aug 4:10:1107768.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1107768. eCollection 2023.

The influence of a maternal vegan diet on carnitine and vitamin B2 concentrations in human milk

Hannah G Juncker  1   2   3 , Chris H P van den Akker  1   2   4 , Pauline L Meerdink  1 , Aniko Korosi  2 , Frédéric M Vaz  5   6   7   8 , Johannes B van Goudoever  1   2   4 , Britt J van Keulen  1   2
Affiliations

The influence of a maternal vegan diet on carnitine and vitamin B2 concentrations in human milk

Hannah G Juncker et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Background: The maternal diet greatly influences the nutritional composition of human milk. With the rise of vegan diets by lactating mothers, there are concerns about the nutritional adequacy of their milk. Two important nutrients, vitamin B2 and carnitine, are mostly ingested via animal products.

Objective: We investigated the influence of a vegan diet on the vitamin B2 and carnitine concentrations in milk and serum of lactating women.

Methods: In this case-control study, 25 lactating mothers following an exclusive vegan diet were comparted to 25 healthy lactating mothers with an omnivorous diet without use of supplements. High-performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry were used to measure vitamin B2 and carnitine concentrations, respectively. A linear regression model was used to determine differences in human milk and serum concentrations between study groups.

Results: Vitamin B2 concentrations in human milk and serum did not differ between study groups. While the human milk free carnitine (C0) and acetyl carnitine (C2) concentrations did not differ between study groups, serum carnitine concentrations were lower in participants following a vegan diet than in omnivorous women (p < 0.0001).

Conclusion: A maternal vegan diet did not affect human milk concentration of vitamin B2 and carnitine. Breastfed infants of mothers following an exclusive vegan diet therefore are likely not at increased risk of developing a vitamin B2 or carnitine deficiency.

Keywords: breast milk; carnitine; lactation; riboflavin; veganism.

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Conflict of interest statement

JG is founder and director of the Dutch National Human Milk Bank and member of the National Health Council, and has been a member of the National Breastfeeding Council from March 2010 to March 2020. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart and matching process.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Vitamin B2 concentrations in human milk and serum for each study group. This figure shows the individual human milk (panel A) and serum (panel B) concentrations of vitamin B2 in the vegan and reference groups. The lines represent the median concentrations of the study groups. In the vegan group, participants indicated by a red dot did not take vitamin B2 supplements; participants indicated by a green dot did take vitamin B2 supplements. Ns, not significant.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Carnitine (C0 and C2) concentrations in human milk and serum for each study group. This figure shows the individual human milk concentrations for free carnitine C0 (panel A) and for acetyl carnitine C2 (panel B) of both study groups. Panel (C) shows the serum concentrations of free carnitine C0, and panel (D) shows the serum concentrations of acetyl carnitine C2 of both study groups. The lines represent the median concentrations of the study groups. Ns, not significant, ****indicates a value of p < 0.0001, ***indicates a value of p < 0.001.
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