Nutritional and Fatty Acid Profile of Human Milk SamplesfromDistrictMalakand, Pakistan

Generally, breastmilk is the first and complete diet for an infant. It has a pivotal role indetermining the growth pattern of the kids. Breast milk has various nutritional ingredients and isasource of energy for the infants. It hasa vital role in the development of the immune system. Thecomposition of milk varies with the diet of the mother, environment, and time of feeding. Thefatty acid profile and nutritional value of thebreast milk of theMalakand district were determined.The fats and protein were determined using the recommended methods by the Association ofOfficial Analytical Chemists (AOAC) and Ward method, respectively while the fatty acid profilewas determined through GC-MS. Milk samples were analyzed for proximate composition andfrom the results the moisture content was 87.69%, ash 0.29%, fats 3.63%, protein 0.94%, andcarbohydrate content ware7.45%. The average fatty acid profiles of milk showed that it iscomposed ofsaturated(SFA), monounsaturated (MUFA)and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)with a concentration of38.41%,29.59%, and14.70%,respectively. In general, both proximate andfatty acid profiles were found slightly different compared to the contents of breast milk indeveloped countries whichmay be due to the difference in diet, environment, and socioeconomicstatus of women in Pakistan.