Maternal Physical Activity and Its Relationship to the Human Milk Metabolome and Infant Body Composition
Authors' conclusion
Maternal exercise was associated with differences in the breast milk metabolome. Metabolites that were associated both with acute exercise and habitual activity correlated with infant adiposity measures.
Study context
- Population
- Lactating mothers and infants; acute exercise cohort (30-min moderate-intensity treadmill session) and subset of MILk/4M study15 dyads acute cohort · subset of MILk/4M study 348
- Participants
- 15 / 84 / 35
- Comparison
- Acute exercise and habitually active vs inactive mothers
- Acute exercisen = 15
- Active casesn = 84
- Inactive controlsn = 35reference
- Outcome
- Milk metabolite relative abundance by liquid chromatography-gas chromatography mass spectrometry; infant anthropometric and body composition measures
- Follow-up
- Milk at 1-month post partum; infant at 1, 3, and 6 months
Methodological details2 independent cohorts, 2 academic medical centers
- 2 independent cohorts
- 2 academic medical centers
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Milk metabolites altered · 1-month post partum
Metabolites altered by acute exercise bout (FDR < .05)
28 of 511
Metabolites differing between active cases vs inactive controls (FDR < .05)
4 of 454
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Metabolites altered by both exercise exposures and infant adiposity
- Metabolites altered (P < .05) by both exposures
- 10
- Of these, positively associated with fat mass index at 1 month
- 4
- Of these, associated with greater increase in BMI z score between 1 and 3 months
- 2
Original publication
Maternal Physical Activity and Its Relationship to the Human Milk Metabolome and Infant Body Composition. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. Published 26 May 2025. doi:10.
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